How to Succeed at Marketing

Marketing includes any contact a person has with any part of your business. It is an ongoing process not a single event.

When you look at it that way, marketing can sound pretty "big" and overwhelming — After all, every contact with your business is a lot of space to cover!

I want to you think about marketing a bit differently though. Think about marketing as a whole bunch of opportunities to educate your audience on how to achieve their goals, grow their business, improve their life, etc.

One important thing to remember though, is that people only read and pay attention to what interested them. That means it’s your job to provide them interesting content, images, videos, audios, and messages so they pay attention!

It’s also your job to market your business. You owe it to the people whom you can help that are suffering and just haven’t found you yet. They need your help and they need to be able to find you. The only way to do that is to market your business.

Now you don’t need to be a marketing guru, expert, or maven to succeed at marketing a small business — you just have to be committed and consistent. Consistent mediocre marketing with commitment will work better and produce more results than brilliant marketing done inconsistently without commitment.

Here’s what you need to know about successful marketing for small business:

1. You Must Research:
   The more you know about your audience, ideal clients, and market place, the better and more impactful your marketing can be.
2. You Must Know The Benefits:
   You need to really understand the tangible and emotional benefits your clients and customers will experience and receive. Know exactly how your product, program, or service will transform their lives, change their business, and make a difference.
3. Select The Right Marketing Tools:
   Be careful to choose only the marketing tools you will use. Don’t add everything into your marketing mix at once — that a recipe for overwhelm! You’ll start out great, then you’ll start to slowly abandon tools and strategies. Start with a few you know you can stay committed to and that you know you enjoy. Successful marketing tools are ones you enjoy using because you’ll continue to use them and stay committed.
4. Create a Marketing Plan:
   Yes you need a marketing plan. It doesn’t have to be several pages long. It doesn’t have to be complex. It just needs to clearly define the purpose of your business, the purpose of your marketing, your brand story, your target market / ideal client, your differentiators, your chosen marketing tools, and your marketing budget. Keep it short and sweet and refer to it often, tweaking as needed to keep you on track.
5. Create a Marketing Calendar:
   Plan out your marketing on a year-long calendar! Include your marketing activities, budget, message, and focus for each month.
6. Locate Marketing Partners:
   Look for complimentary not competitive business owners and entrepreneurs who serve the same ideal client you do and partner up in your marketing. This may be as a joint venture, strategic referral partner, social media support, affiliate, etc.
7. Maintain Your Marketing:
   Marketing is an ongoing process that never stops. It is not a one time event. Keep going, keeping getting your message out there, keep providing value, and maintain (or grow) your position in the marketplace.
8. Track and Measure:
   Test headlines, calls to action, content, and graphics. Track everything. Look and where you succeeded and where you failed. Ditch what didn’t work and focus on and expand what did work. Know where your new business is coming from and nurture those leads sources.
9. Never Stop Learning:
   When you think you know it all and stop learning, you’re paving the way to business death! Never stop learning and improving your knowledge and skills. Always work on being better than you were at what you do than you were the day before.

You see? Marketing success isn’t a mystery. If you follow these nine simple guidelines, you’ll succeed at marketing your business, generate new leads, get more clients, build your reputation as an expert, and grow your business.