Before we jump into the next marketing tip, I want to continue the conversation on the topic of planning so our word for this week is PLAN. Take a look at the video below or read the summary to learn more. Then share your thoughts in the comments or send me an email.
In my last post, our focus word was IDENTIFY. I talked about 4 key things to identify in order to successfully market your business. In this post, our focus word is BUILD. I will share 3 key things you should build in your business.
Building upon a strong foundation is necessary to have a strong result. There are several ways to build your business, but most of the ways fall into 3 key categories. To learn more about the 3 key things you need to build watch the video or read below.
As a coach, consultant or service-based business owner, one of your biggest quests is to grow a sustainable and profitable business. And the BEST thing that you can do in order to succeed at this quest is to have a plan, but not just any plan, but a M.A.P., Marketing Action Plan.
If you’re familiar with the website and app MapQuest, it helps you to reach your destination by providing you with directions, helps you plan your route and lets you know about hotel deals for your destination.
Well, similar to the MapQuest website and app, having a M.A.P. (Marketing Action Plan) for your business can give you the direction that you need, help you plan out the activity you need to be doing for your business, and can help you figure out the right partnerships you need to be making for your business.
In this post I share how to create a M.A.P. to fulfill your business quest for success in 2018:
As I write this post, we are three weeks into the new year, and I can honestly say I feel organized and ready for an AWESOME year. Why do I feel this way? Because I have been able to plan out all of my marketing effort for the entire year in a relatively short amount of time.
In my last blog post, I shared with you the 3 Simple Tools You Can Use to Plan an Awesome NEW Year. If you didn’t get a chance to read it, be sure to check it out. In this post I will share with you how to create one year of marketing activity in one day.
Updated: January 16, 2018
Planning is one of my favorite things to do. I’ve always been more of a planner than a spontaneous doer, so I especially like this time of the year because it is perfect for planning out the new year. Over the years my planning process has changed,but the overall idea of having a comprehensive plan to start the year has not changed.
In today’s blog post, I will be sharing 4 Simple Tools You Can Use to Plan an Awesome 2018!!
No matter what marketing strategy you decide to pursue for your business, in order to be successful, your effort CANNOT be random, being successful with marketing requires planning for your success!
November is a great time to get an early start on your Marketing Plan for the next year. Putting together a Simple Marketing Plan can ensure for a more successful year. Too many coaches, consultants and entrepreneurs practice Random Acts of Marketing (R.A.M.) with no real strategy or plan for their businesses.
I’m on a mission to help coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs to be less random and more strategic. In this blog post, I will walk you through a simple strategy for success called The B.E.S.T. Marketing Plan™. The B.E.S.T. Marketing Plan follows four core marketing strategies for growing your business as a coach or consultant:
In the beginning of this year, I announced that I had refreshed my brand, which included a new logo, pictures, vision, and name. If you missed that blog post, be sure to check it out.
Although all of those items I mentioned in the blog post are important to a brand refresh, one item that is also important, but was not mentioned in the post is refreshing the voice of my brand. An aspect of my voice that has been eliminated in the past and will be included with my brand refresh is the importance the role of faith plays in my business.
We are taught that we should separate business and religion (or spirituality), so many people shy away from talking about the role faith plays in their business. Well, with my brand refresh, I have decided to include sharing how faith plays a role in growing my business.
Do you have a business M.A.P.? Wondering what a business M.A.P. is, and why you would need one?
It’s a Marketing Action Plan (M.A.P.), and you need one in order to take your business from one place to the next.
When you need to go somewhere, and you are not sure how to get there, you need directions. You can use a map to get the directions, now a days that map is within your GPS either in your smartphone or in your car. Well just like the map in your GPS, you need a M.A.P. for your business that is designed to take your business from point A to point B. The destination may be different for each business, but the need to have a plan and take action is always necessary to get your business from point A to point B.
Similar to when you are following the directions in your GPS, you may at times need to make a u-turn or change routes, but the overall map in the GPS is there to guide you and get you to your final destination. In fact, after we have made several miss steps or u-turns we love when we hear the words, “you have reached your destination“. With a business MAP, you may not hear a GPS system say, “you have reached your destination”, but you know you have reached your destination when you achieve the business goal that you set out to achieve.
For example, if your business goal is to increase your sales by 20%, you need to create a M.A.P. on how to get there. Instead of turns on highways and streets, the M.A.P. includes turns you can make in your marketing activity that can help you to reach your destination, so in the case of increasing sales, a M.A.P. could look something like this:
a. Attending more networking events
b. Placing ads on Social Media
c. Creating an email campaign
d. Creating an AdWord campaign
a. Joining a referral networking group
b. Looking for referral partners
c. Creating a referral partner program
d. Having a referral incentive
a. Having monthly webinars
b. Having monthly teleseminars
c. Having monthly in-person events
d. Having more one-on-one meetings with prospects
a. Creating sales pages with good content and strong calls to actions
b. Creating emails with good content and strong call to actions
c. Creating videos with good content and strong call to actions
d. Adding testimonials to your website and sales pages
So as you can see the action that you take in your marketing action plan will determine the outcome of the destination of your business. You can create a plan for each business goal that you have and make adjustments to the actions when necessary.
Have you created your business M.A.P.? If so, what marketing activities do you include in order to reach your goals?
Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cynergy/2607120416/
Your small business is probably not the only business in the world that does what you do, so how do you differentiate your company from all of the other companies out there? The answer can be found in identify your unique selling proposition (usp). These are the things that make you and/or your company different, but sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what your unique selling proposition is? Follow these three tips to help you to differentiate yourself from the rest of the market:
So if you strive to be innovative, to do things differently than your competitors, and to know the needs of your audience, you are on the path to differentiate yourself from the rest of the market and becoming a successful brand!
What ways do you use to differentiate your small business?
One of the first steps to any successful marketing campaign is to IDENTIFY your IDEAL target market. When it comes to identifying your ideal target market, there are two main factors that you should consider:
Once you take the time to describe your target market, then you are better able to REACH your ideal target market!
The next step after defining your target market is finding out where your target market gathers in LARGE quantities both online and offline. This could include places like:
Now you know WHO your target market is and WHERE they hangout, the next step is HOW to reach out to them, and this could include activities such as:
Once you know WHO your target audience is, WHERE they hangout in large quantities, and HOW to reach out to them, you are ready to start executing your marketing campaign.
What other techniques do you use to identify and reach out to your target market?