A Quick and Simple 5 Step Formula for Marketing Success

"Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it" – Winston Churchill

At least once a year, better yet every 6 months, and even better still, every quarter, it’s time for each of us to pull back the curtains and take an honest, hard, and close look at our business – Take our pulse so to speak and gauge exactly how we’re doing.

It’s time to reflect on what’s working as well as what’s not working, set refined or new sights, and make the necessary course corrections for our respective business.

So with that being said, here is a simple 5 step formula to help you to reflect, refine and realize your marketing success.

“Marketing Success Timeline”


Directions to Get From Point ‘A’ to Point ‘B’
|
Point ‘A’------------------------------------------------------ Point ‘B’
|                                                                                     |
Where You Are Now                                Where You Want To Be

1. Clearly Define Point ‘A’ – "Where You Are Now"
   Take a clear snapshot of the current state of affairs of your business and then examine that snapshot by determining what’s working and what’s not working.



2. Clearly Define Point ‘B’ – "Where You Want To Be"
   It’s time to do some soul searching. Ask yourself the point blank and often avoided questions of “What exactly do I want?” and “Where do I want my business to be in a year/ 3 years/ 10 years/ etc.?” Being honest and thorough here is the key to true success because this will focus you on your truly desired destination and should dictate how you market yourself to your target audience.



3. Map out Directions to Get From Point ‘A’ to Point ‘B’ (HINT: This is Your Marketing Plan)
   Just like when you’re driving a car, where the clearer and more direct your driving directions are, the faster and easier you will get to where you are going; the same holds true for your business here, except in this case, the driving directions are your marketing plan. If you don’t have a marketing plan, put on the brakes and create one immediately, you just might be driving your business in the wrong direction. If you do already have a marketing plan, then it’s time to refine it, by doing more of what’s working and less of what’s not – it’s that simple! And remember the fastest path between 2 points, as illustrated in our timeline example, is a straight line – don’t allow yourself to get sidetracked, stay on the path.



4. Start Traveling Your Path to Success
   A key concept for you to grasp here is that any plan, no matter how comprehensive it may be, is useless if you don’t take action on it. So guess what? It’s time to take massive action and start traveling the path to success!



5. Track Your Progress along the Way
   Now, while you’re traveling along your marketing success timeline, there will be lots of luring forks in the road and turns that you can take that could drastically alter the direction you’re heading. Worst case, if you’re not paying attention, one wrong turn can take you the complete opposite direction of where you want to be; getting you lost just enough to put you out of business. So it’s critical at regular intervals to check your course and make sure you’re still on track. Additionally know that as you progress along your path, you will grow wiser every day, so you may be able to sharpen or shorten your path by applying other or more streamlined marketing strategies and tactics.

Remember though, that the fun is in the journey, not in the conquering of your destination – so enjoy the ride.


© 2006 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

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Online entrepreneur Dean Mercado, "The Motivational Marketer", is creator of the acclaimed 'Pumped Up Networking' system geared to explode your business through professional relationships.  To learn more about it and to sign up for his FREE eZine the 'Marketing Minute' – a weekly multimedia eZine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes, visit www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com.