While I was working at Lexmark, the engineers introduced me to a great saying: “You can have it fast, good or cheap - pick two and the other one is set.” When it comes to marketing, the same rule applies. Now that there are so many “free” avenues, like social media and email, “cheap” or “free” can be a deceptive terms. Lets take them one at a time.

Fast: Do you use an advertising or PR agency? After the initial meetings, many folks “hand over the keys” and let them do the driving. It’s faster to let someone else do it because they do the thinking, creating and production, all of which are time consuming. That lets you do the things that make money. Sometimes, though, the business owner’s attention drifts from the agency’s work and don’t perk up again until there’s a problem (e.g. business lags).

Or fast as in, “Just put our logo in and say, ‘Best prices in town.’ That’s all we need.” You need more. Advertising and marketing are like anything else: Just showing up isn’t enough. Sure, it’s better than nothing, but barely. Your message deserves time, attention and creativity.

Good: Pretty self-explanatory, right? Well, there’s good, and then there’s good. In one sense, it looks and sounds fine, is attractive and contemporary, but does it give your audience a feel for who you are? You, your employees and your business have hearts and souls. Do your ads reflect this? Sometimes ugly ads do better than pretty because they touch the prospective customer, and connect with those you already have. Good is as faceted as a diamond.

Cheap: Cheap isn’t necessarily bad and lots of business were started on a shoe string. Cheap can be great IF what you’re doing is carefully considered. It can imply shoe leather vs. direct mai, phone calls vs. a display ad. Some cheap is bad because your marketing materials look, feel or sound cheap. Even things like Facebook advertising - which can be quite inexpensive - can look cheap if your message is wrong.

In the end, even though there are more avenues than ever to exploit (search engine marketing, Facebook, Twitter, email/newsletters, etc.), the key factor to it all is time. Specifically, time vs. money. Firms that hire ad agencies find their ads and marketing are much more productive if they are involved with the agency - they spend the time.

In a way, it comes down to a trade-off between time and money. You have to invest both, and the more of each you can contribute the better. So, if your budget is thin, plan on spending more time working on it yourself: Learning, producing, monitoring, testing, analyzing, and so on. There have never been more low cost ways to get the word out. If you use an agency, you will still have to go over the creative, read reports, etc., but not as much because you’re paying someone to do a lot of the grunt work for you.

Whatever you do, don’t hand the keys to anyone else. Make sure you’re along for the trip or you could get taken for a ride.