Small Business Marketing Tips and Ideas

One of the constants in life should to be always learning.

The greatest capacity to learn comes from putting yourself "in the game" and doing. When you do you are able to learn from success, learn from failure, and learn from just giving your best effort without much succcess or failure.

Personally, I look for lessons from any and all aspects of my life. When they're learned you then have to ask yourself, "How could I apply this in other areas of my life?"

Here are a few lessons I was reminded of through a recent success story my wife, Gretchen, experienced. While it's not strictly a marketing success story, the lessons learned/reminded of are certainly applicable to anyone looking to take their marketing results to the next level.

My wife recently started an Arbonne business. In case you haven't heard of Arbonne, they're an international skin care products company that markets and sells through a huge network of independent consultants. Gretchen never imagined she would get involved in any sort of network marketing organization until she was approached by a friend recently. She decided to give it a go and got into the business a few months ago.

The first goal was to reach the District Manager level which she just did this past December. Congratulations Gretchen!

There were certain requirements and the end of November was her deadline or she was basically going to have to start over. With just a couple of days left, Gretchen appeared to be quite a ways off from the goal and I wondered if she would make it.

Well she made it, and here are the key reasons I believe she did:

1. The goal was very clear. Gretchen had the advantage of working with a crystal clear goal. She knew exactly what she was working to accomplish, what it took to get there, and what time frame she had to work with. So many small business owners are operating with vaguely defined goals if any at all. They sort of know what they want to get accomplished, but mostly they're hoping for good things happen and more business to come their way.

2. The power of positive intention. Gretchen did not contemplate not making her goal. In her mind, failure was never an option. There is a law of attraction that says what you focus on expands. She totally believed that her success was achievable and never even uttered the phrase "what if?" You don't even need to totally understand how the goal will be achieved to succeed. With the power of positive intention, the answers will typcally reveal themselve to you.

3. The importance of TEAM. Just because you're in business for yourself doesn't mean you have to be or should be in business by yourself. Being part of a team and contributing to building a team will facilitate your path to success. Grethcen's team including the people upline from her were communicating and working together to help each other succeed. These are women that are bulding their own business, but they clearly understand that they won't consistently win unless their team wins.

So let me summarize the lessons for you in marketing your own business.

• Set clear goals that focus on and articulate where you want to go with the business.
  

• Always believe and celebrate the fact that you can succeed in marketing to grow your business. Embrace the power of positive intention.
  

• Build a winning team. Make a list of who you can ask for support from as well as those to whom you can lend support. Then reach out to them and tell them you want to explore ways to collaborate to help each other grow.

Always be on the lookout for lessons from your own or others successes, failures, and efforts.

March 5, 2007 16:55 - Marketing Denial

Do you know anyone suffering from Marketing Denial?

I'm sure you recognize the symptoms. It's that person who is struggling to attract all the clients they want, but keeps insisting they know a lot about marketing.

A person in marketing denial will ask you for advice or tell you they just have a couple of questions. But then when you give them your advice or answers to their questions, they make some sort of ridiculous statement like, "Ya, I guess I already know all that."

Well if you already know all that, then why did you ask? Could it be that maybe you don't know or maybe whatever you are doing just flat out isn't working?

Here's a snippet from an email I received recently from someone who contacted me to inquire about my marketing services. "Basically, I know a lot about marketing... but I do not really like to work on it because I do not feel that I receive any results from marketing activities." Holy smokes! If there was a pill for curing marketing denial I would certainly recommend it be prescribed to this person.

A person in marketing denial constantly shows up to various marketing events such as presentations, seminar, workshops, and network gatherings. But instead of looking for answers, they're constantly coming off as if they already have the answers. They engage in conversation with other participants with phrases like, "In my experience..." and "That kind of marketing just doesn't work for my business..."

"I know that" is a key phrase for somebody in marketing denial. A lesson I've definitely learned in the past three plus years is that the three most dangerous words in the English language are "I know that."

If you're not successful, happy and profitable then there's a good chance you're saying "I know that" too much. It's ok to admit you don't have the answers all the time.

Heck, I know I don't come close to knowing everything there is to know about marketing. I believe I've found a lot of answers and put it together in a systematic approach the works sure. But, I certainly don't know it all. That's why I'm continually striving to learn and experiment more.

Get over any marketing denial you may be experiencing. Don't be afraid to ask for help and support when you need it. Commit to learning more about small business marketing than you already know. And then take action to apply what you've learned as best you can. Nobody gets it right the first time.

It's those in continuous pursuit of better marketing results that are succeeding. Those in marketing denial are just continuing to make excuses.

March 19, 2007 14:52 - Do Small Business Marketers Need to Write?

Writing is critical to effectively marketing a professional service business.

Everything you do starts with writing, or at least it should. There's really no way around it. You write your marketing materials, web site copy, articles, special reports, tip sheets, talks and presentations, sales letters, ezines or newsletters, post card mailers, proposals, etc. It all starts with writing.

Don't panic - we're not talking about Pulitzer Prize winning literature here. It's about writing in a way that informs and educates your target market of the value you offer. It's about writing in a compelling way that gets your target market to take action.

When you write about your business and the services you offer, you will actually gain clarity that hasn't existed before. Writing about what you do for clients and what they get from your services strengthens your marketing message. You're able to begin conveying your message more authentically and persuasively.

Just the other day a client asked me about writing. "I don't get it," he said. "Why should I bother with things like a newsletter or a blog? Have you ever gotten anything from it?"

Good question. The answer is most definitely yes, I do get something from it. Let me give you a couple of recent examples as to why I think you should bother.

Example #1: One of my ezine subscribers has her own monthly email newsletter and has picked up a few of my articles to include in her publication. Within a few days of her last ezine being sent out, I was getting traffic to my web site and new subscribers to my ezine as a result of the articles they were reading. Experience shows me that it's just a matter of time before a certain percentage of ezine subscribers find something that they are willing to buy - a TeleClass, a marketing audio, a special report, an affiliate product, etc.

Example #2: I just received an email this morning from someone who had been reading some of my articles online. Turns out it is the editor of an online, magazine style web site that would like me to consider submitting articles to include in their weekly e-newsletter. Their subscription base just happens to be 32,000 service business professionals who fit my target niche quite nicely. How long would it take your business to get in front of 32,000 suspects in your target market potentially on a weekly basis?

You see your knowledge and expertise is valuable. It's what your prospects are looking for when they seeking out information regarding your services. Writing is one of the best ways to express some of that knowledge and expertise in small, manageable quantities. It helps build authority and credibility so prospects will want to know more.

So you tell me - do you get it now? Do you see why small business marketers need to write?

My advice is to go ahead and start writing something at least a couple of times per week. Don't worry if your writing is not great because it will get better with practice. Just focus on sharing bits and pieces of your knowledge and expertise regarding topics your target market will care about. You'll end up building up a great little arsenal for promoting your business with tremendous impact.