Develop Short and Long Term Goals
Develop long term and short term goals. Evaluating where you are and where you want to be is essential to your success. Once you have your business marketing goals clearly defined it is time to choose several marketing tools for your business. When you are choosing specific marketing tools only utilize measurable strategies. If you can’t measure your marketing progress don’t do it! You must have clarity. Your war chest should include Web-site development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media such as Twitter and Facebook, Yellow Pages, media such as radio, press and television, logo and branding, business cards, letterhead, and direct mail campaigns. Get as many of the marketing pots boiling as you possibly can.
Do not fall into the trap of eliminating your number one marketing tool, YOU! Your marketing strategy must include you as the authority, world-class salesman and non-stop prospector. Do not rely on anyone to do the work for you. Your number one job is “prospector”. You must develop and practice belly-to-belly (B2B) presentations. It is imperative to be natural and fluent with a thirty second to one minute elevator presentation that includes distributing your business card. Always start off by building rapport by asking your prospect what he or she does for a living. They will tell you and ask the same of you! Before you present a card to them if the prospect is a professional ask for his or her card first.
You should develop longer versions of your presentation for any professional opportunity that may emerge. For instance, you have been invited to a Kiwanis club meeting as a guest. When you arrive you learn that the guest speaker has been delayed and will not arrive to present their service. Success principle number one is “Always be Prepared!” You are on and you will handle it like a pro. You will be surprised how often opportunities such as this will emerge. Additionally, you may want to consider a short power point or video presentation on your BlackBerry or PDA. You could “beam” it via Bluetooth or play it quickly on your device. Keep it to under a minute.
Remember marketing is not one aspect of your business it is your business. Without marketing you have no customers. No customers = no business!
The third and final part of a 3 part series on understanding marketing. If you would like to check out part 2 and three, you can do so using the navigation below.
