It is understandable if we realized that the human animal requires from seven to ten visual contacts before a cognitive recognition occurs. That means that you have to put your company name in front of a potential customer at least seven times before they recognize the name and remember it. That is part of the reason we use multifaceted marketing as a tool to effectively get our message out to our market.
We want to have our message reach our market in several different ways over a long period of time, so that we have the best chance of getting in front of our potential customer as often as possible; at least seven times. I've given you one good reason to start marketing right now, because it takes time to make contact with your potential customer.
But there are other very good reasons to start now. A great analogy comes to mind: The Tortoise and the Hare. Remember the story about the hare that ran so fast he never worried about winning a race. As a result he took many breaks along the way. His competitor, the tortoise, on the other hand, moved very slowly but never stopped. In the end, the hare found himself so far behind that no matter how fast he ran he couldn't catch up.