Consistent spending doesn't guarantee consistent results.

When it comes to a marketing budget, it's easy to fall into the habit of dividing it equally across the year: $10K per month, every month, like clockwork. A little spending in January, a little in February, steady through December. The thinking is that consistent spending means consistent results.

But it doesn't. Steady spending doesn't create steady results. You end up wasting money in months when no one is paying attention to your marketing and not investing enough when they are.

The ebook The Lightning Strike Strategy, by Category Pirates, argues that the most effective marketing isn't evenly distributed across the year. It's concentrated. Instead of spreading resources thin across 12 months, you focus 70% of your budget on two to four major initiatives per year, investing heavily when it matters most.

For financial advisory firms, this might mean going all-in during the months when your niche is most likely to make decisions. Maybe you invest heavily around the start of the year, around the end of tax season, and early fall when prospects are already thinking about their finances, and pull back in November, December, and the summer months when nobody's paying attention.

This doesn't mean everything else stops during the quiet months. Some activities require a consistent budget regardless: your marketing technology like email and website costs, podcast production, or a networking breakfast you attend every month. But the big-money campaigns get concentrated in the windows where they can actually move the needle.

This makes perfect sense when you hear it, but it's rarely how firms operate. Most advisors default to even monthly spending because it's easier to budget. But you'll spend your money more wisely and get better returns when you invest in attracting clients during the windows when they're actually ready to hire you.

The takeaway: Strategic concentration beats equal distribution. When you focus your marketing budget on the right moments and give those initiatives the resources to actually break through, you get results.