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Article #34, June, 2005
Answers to Marketing Overwhelm!
What do you do yourself, and what do you pay someone else to do? Then, what strategies and tactics work best for you and your business?? Confused? Join the club!
If you have a large budget for marketing, you can stop reading now. Just hire a really good marketing consultant to do it all for you. For those of us who don't have $1,000's budgeted for marketing, keep reading for short-cuts on your learning curve.
There are many, many ways you can learn what will work for you. Allow me to give you some great resources as starters:
- www.onepagebusinessplan.com Without a plan, you will continue to struggle with your ability to focus and become distracted from your goals. Check out this site - you don't have to sign up for anything, but you can see some terrific business plans. [Be sure to allow for business and marketing education in your plan.] These plans are short and meant to be used as tools. Try it, you'll like it!
- www.teleclass.com If you don't want to subscribe, click "search classes". There are MANY great FR*EE teleclasses advertised here. For example, I found "Online Marketing for Service Professionals" and "What Do I Say So My Phone Calls And E-Mail's Are Returned?" - Both offered at no charge!
- www.tipsbooklets.com Paulette Ensign is brilliant. She will give you some great info on her site regarding writing a booklet to use for marketing purposes or to sell. One of the products she sells for only $19 is: "Licensing: Leverage a Single Manuscript into Multiple Products" - an audio program. I also suggest reading the articles posted on her site on the resources page.
- www.AnnConvery.com Ann is a genius, and I don't say that often. She will teach you to "Speak Your Business in 30 Seconds or LessTM", so you can effectively network in 30 seconds or less. I have referred many people to Ann, and they have all come away happy. You can buy her CD for $20, and her consultations are very reasonable.
I have talked and written many, many times about the importance of your target market, and nothing is different here. Until you have selected a viable, narrow target, your marketing will fall flat.
Recently, a group coaching client discovered that she was networking at all the wrong places! Her target wasn't gathering where she was going, so she wasn't getting business from that marketing tactic. The strategy of networking works for her, she just wasn't executing effectively.
Once you have done the required reading, then you can better decide which marketing strategies will be best for your business, your personality and your target market. As you learn, then apply what you've learned to your plan, your overwhelm will subside. Here are some inexpensive marketing strategies you might want to learn more about:
- Email newsletter - visit www.EzineQueen.com for lots and lots of great information.
- Networking - once you find your target, figure out where they are gathering, and go there!
- Strategic Alliances - set up alliances with complementary businesses who service your same target
- Website - you'll need to learn about internet marketing to have a truly effective website, but get something up so people can find you. Look at your competition's websites to get started, but there's no reason to believe their websites are effective!
Please do not hesitate to ask people (interpretation - me!) for help. It is their responsibility to say no if they do not want to help you for no charge!
My group coach program for women entrepreneurs is a fabulous way to learn about marketing your specific business, for only $315 for the entire 3 month program. Please call or email with questions and to schedule your fr*ee coaching session to try me out!
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