Does Your Marketing Plan Fit? - Marketing Article

By:Sandra P. Martini

Copyright 2006 Sandra P. Martini

Ask small business owners what they are afraid of most in their businesses and you typically get one of two responses: marketing and bookkeeping. We’re going to tackle just the marketing side today and leave bookkeeping for another day.

It’s all too common for small business owners to avoid marketing their businesses until they “need” to. “Need” meaning that they need more money and, therefore, additional clients. In reality, small business owners are no different from larger companies in that they should be marketing themselves all the time.

Despite that fact, I often hear the following from my clients:

“I hate marketing.”

“I don’t like the thought of having to sell myself to people.”

“I’m not comfortable cold calling.”

The above all boil down to the same thing: a lack of understanding about what marketing can and should be.

Marketing is not about opening the phone book and calling everyone to see if they want your services or spamming every email address you can get your hands on.

Marketing allows you to get the word out about your business. It allows you to tell people who you are and what you do so that when they need you and your services, you’re there. You’ve already established a “relationship” through your marketing, even if you’ve never actually spoken with them before. Studies show that it takes a person seeing/hearing about you 7 to 10 times before they remember you. Consistent marketing to your target audience is critical.

Developing a marketing plan that fits not only your business, but you personality is a critical part of being a successful business. Maybe you’re the type of person who loves networking meetings, running a trade show booth and participating in lots of public events. Conversely, you may detest networking events and shun anything remotely related to the public. It doesn’t matter. The important thing is to know yourself before you write your marketing plan.

Are you an extrovert?

If so, go to the networking events; arrange to have a booth at your target audience’s trade shows; host teleclasses. Work these types of campaigns into your marketing plan.

Are you an introvert?

Send newsletters (online or offline), participate in online forums (such as Yahoo Groups or Ryze), do direct mail campaigns to your target audience.

You get the idea – make your marketing plan and activities work with you rather than against you.

The overall goal of your marketing plan is to create campaigns and action steps such that your marketing funnel remains full at all times:

1. Prospective clients have just heard about you.

2. Prospective clients recognize your name when they hear it.

3. Prospective clients feel they know you and that you’ve developed a relationship with them.

4. Prospective clients become clients.

It will take some time to get to this level – particularly if you are just starting out. And that’s okay. Just remember that marketing your business is a full-time activity – just as performing your service does.

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: marketing plan, Sandra Martini, Sandy Martini, business coach, work in pjs, marketing online, make money online, virtual assistant

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Online Business Manager & Entrepreneur, Sandra Martini, publishes the 'Effective Entrepreneur' weekly e-zine. She also coaches small business owners to more efficiently manage their businesses while increasing profits and having fun. Sandra's coaching programs are available via teleconferencing, emails and telephone calls. For more information or to sign-up for ‘Effective Entrepreneur’, visit www.online-biz-coach.com today.

Top Marketing Articles
1). The Benefits Of Branding By : Marcia Yudkin Branding is the process of creating distinctive and durable perceptions in the minds of consumers. A brand is a persistent, unique business identity intertwined with associations of personality, quality, origin, liking and more. Here’s why the effort to brand your company or yourself pays off. 1. Memorability. A brand serves as a convenient container for a reputation and good will.
2). New Marketing Program Draws Thousands To Its Free Teleseminar By : Patrick Riley Less than three short months ago, a new 1Step System was born with a very real potential for generating a great deal of income in a short time. Co -founders Rod Stinson and Chris Koehl have brought this opportunity to people all over the world. Many are joining now because the company is still in its infancy, which from a marketing standpoint is surely the best time to get on board.
3). Direct TV and the HD DVR By : dave4 With the inclusion of free or price-reduced TiVo-powered DVRs (digital video recorders), the benefits of DIRECTV have become so much greater. Particularly compelling is the high definition DVR combo that new DIRECTV subscribers can currently receive at a fair price. Of course the question to be asked is: If I can receive a free DVR with my DIRECTV subscription, why dish out the extra cash for the upgrade? There are quite a few reasons.
4). Seven Offline Viral Marketing Ideas By : Matt DeAngelis Recently I participated in a forum discussion about offline marketing – that is using more traditional marketing offline to drive traffic to your website or blog. I can still remember the first time I saw a URL in a TV commercial and how cool I thought that was. The offline world has the constraint of geography, so the least expensive forms of viral marketing are going to be geographically bound, which can be challenging for some sites.
5). Social Bookmarking - The Ultimate Viral Marketing By : Matt DeAngelis Social Bookmarking could be one of the best things that ever happened to websites and blogs. Basically Social Bookmarketing sites allow users to create a set of content bookmarks. These bookmarks are organized by tags, which are (usually) arbitrary words or phrases the user can assign to content. This gives the user a way to classify, rank and organize content using tags.
6). John Warwicker - Co-Founder of Tomato Design Company By : Robert Palmer Design company Tomato ( http://www.tomato.co.uk ) was founded in 1991 in London by John Warwicker, Steve Baker, Dirk Van Dooren, Karl Hyde, Richard Smith, Simon Taylor and Graham Wood. In 1994, Michael Horsham and Jason Kedgely joined. tomato specializes in: Architectural Design, Consultancy, Drawing, Education, Electronic Interactive Media, Film & Commercial Direction, Graphic Design, Fashion, Motion Graphics, Music & Sound, Strategy, Branding & Identity, Photography, Publishing, Title Sequences, Typography, Writing.
7). The Onset of Digital Vinyl Banner Printing By : Charmaine Joy Caro Is your business customer-oriented? Does it speak of your company identity? Does it offer the customers the right services and products they really need? If you think your business still needs a little push to effectively make it to the peak of success, then you should opt for vinyl banners for your promotional campaign. Vinyl banners are proven promotional tools that give boost to your ad campaign.
8). Teasing Colors in Printing Services By : Maricon Williams People are basically visual creatures. They are easily turned on by what they see. The outrageousness of the design, graphics and colors teases their sense of sight. It sends excitement and thrill that generates more appetite to stare longer and be charmed. Among design, graphics and color, the latter is the most difficult to show accurately. This is because color perception can be affected by lots of factors.
9). Full Color for Stunning Brochures By : viojieley Have you ever feel so engrossed in something so beautiful and breathe taking? Perhaps a picture or image of a person or a scenic spot that you just find it so difficult to take your eyes off it. If you have, have you ever wondered what made you stare? Well, most of these pictures become attractive because of its color. Yes you read it right, color is the culprit.
10). Before You Do Anything: Try It Out By : James Calvin So you know, roughly, what you want your home business to be. Before you go any further and start investing, though, you need to try it out. Here’s how. Build a Prototype. If you plan to sell physical things, or you’re going to do something like starting a website or making software, then you should build a prototype to see how your idea will work out.

New Marketing Articles
1). Birkenstocks & The Customizable Art Of Footwear By : JM Anderson Birkenstocks are a German brand of quality footwear, which is best known for it’s contoured footbed. When most people purchase a new pair of shoes, they expect to have a ‘break-in’ time. This usually lasts for a few days and, at that time, the shoe is pretty comfortable and broken in for everyday wear. The main difference with Birkenstocks is that they approach the ‘break-in’ time much differently.
2). Millionaire Marketing in 3 Small Steps By : Allyn_Cutts What is money? A child might say that it’s something rich people have and poor people don’t. An engineer might go into a detailed and lengthy explanation, but we all know that money is what really “makes the world go around.” In the business world, money is the definition of success or failure. That’s why it’s vitally important that every entrepreneur has a good understanding of money – even if their business is still struggling to get off the ground.
3). Free T Shirt Offer – Are they really free? By : Isabel Rodrigues The modern day craze has created a huge demand for designer clothing all over the world. Many young guns are going for a casual wear than what it used to be 20 years ago. A simple T-shirt and low waist jeans makes both the genders comfortable. It’s become almost a compulsory act to hang out in t-shirts and jeans even in colleges. Youths like to have wide collection of t-shirt of current fashion.
4). How To Promote Your Home Based Business On A Shoestring Budget! By : Kris Bickell Getting customers is the key to success in any business. There are many ways to promote your home based business - the only way to know which ones are best for your business is to test. Here are some tips for getting customers without spending a fortune! 1. Tell everyone you know that you are starting a business AND ask them to tell everyone they know.
5). Cash in on Neighbors By : Allyn_Cutts What could be more welcoming than the spicy smell of hot apple pie to receive you into a brand new neighborhood full of people you’ve never met? Hopefully you life has been full of warm, hospitable neighbors wherever you’ve lived. Perhaps not… If you’ve ever had a bad experience with a neighbor, you know just how much those invisible people really know about you.
6). Technology Controlled Marketing By : Allyn_Cutts RSS feeds and blogs took Internet marketing by a storm in 2005. Every time we turn around there’s a brand new marketing vehicle speeding down the Internet highway. In the fast paced race of the virtual world, it’s easy to get swept away in the current of technology. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that computers have taken control of both our personal world and the business world.
7). Finding Your Niche In The Business World By : Cheryl Johnson Who am I and what do I love to do? Well, isn't this the twenty million dollar question! A more appropriate question might be "Who was I and what did I love to do?" As you search to find yourself, and what it is you love to do, you may find the task harder than you thought it would be. Try to think about your childhood. Can you remember what thrilled you as a child? Like many people you've probably forgotten what brought try joy and excitement to your essence.
8). 7 Marketing Ideas to Expand Your Customer Base and Profits By : Joel Sussman Copyright 2006 Joel Sussman How do you grab people's attention, arouse their interest, trigger their desire, and motivate them to take action? Answer that four-part question correctly and you've identified the secret to achieving tremendous sales and marketing success in your chosen business or field. To complicate matters, however, the potential answers are as numerous and multi-faceted as the growing number of niche markets, products and services, and marketing trends in our culture.
9). The Housing Market Pitfalls and How I got Trapped. By : Mars The housing game in Gainesville Virginia, let alone all other areas in Virginia, has become something to smirk at. I mean it’s obvious that during the real estate boom everyone made money except those that were watching from the sideline and jumped on the train as it was inching away only to slip and get crushed on the tracks. Well welcome to my world.
10). One Little Secret that Makes People Listen to You By : Kathryn Beach As a marketer, you should be focused on one and only one thing. Not your company, not your product, but on filling your customer's needs. You have to start out with a clear perception of who your target customer is (the more details you know, the better); what his or her needs are, and how your product or service fills that need better than any other.