We here at The Starr Conspiracy are no strangers to making cool lists. Best places to work? Check (x8). Largest agency in Fort Worth? Check. But we hadn't made it on the Inc. 5000 list, one of the most recognizable indicators of growth among privately owned companies. The Inc. 5000 takes into account growth over the past three years (from 2009 through the end of 2012) to calculate the fastest growing companies in America.

In the first two good habits for your marketing budget, we talked about annual planning and media buys. While your accounting team may have loved those first two (mostly due to the planning and performance-tracking aspect that comes with both of these), they aren’t going to like the last good habit as much: investing in creative.