Small Business Marketing Strategy: A Labor Day Approach to Finishing Your Year with a Bang!

Unbelievable! Labor Day is here again... how the years seem to fly by. This time of year always seems to tune me back into marketing. Why? First off because of all the big Labor Day promotions and sales that local retailers tend to bombard us with. Secondly because of what Labor Day stands for. For us Americans it’s a day to reflect on all the work and workers who made America the great country it is today! And thirdly because the year is two-thirds over already and that leaves me with the last third of the year to meet, or better yet exceed my business goals for the year.

So what I like to do is (for my business anyway) is to use the days surrounding Labor Day to do some reflecting on what’s working and what’s not working with my marketing as well as make any necessary adjustments to my marketing plan. So here’s my 3 step approach to doing just that:

Step 1 - Revisit and Refresh Goals As Needed

This goes for both personal as well as business goals. Ask yourself... Have my needs and wants changed at all? Do I still have the same passion for those things that I wanted at beginning of the year? Why or why not? Contemplating these types of questions will both tune you back into what you’re doing and why.

Step 2 - Reflect on Past Marketing Efforts

Take a look at the marketing you’ve done so far this year. Has it worked? How do you know? Well you can start by looking at the numbers because they don’t lie. How many qualified prospects did each marketing campaign bring forth? How many clients? What types of marketing strategies and tactics did you enjoy doing the most? Learning from your efforts here will significantly increase your marketing success going forward.

Step 3 - Reevaluate the Remainder of Your Marketing Plan

Now that you have a grip on what marketing worked or didn’t work and why so far this year, take a look at the marketing you have on deck. Does it still seem appropriate? What will your marketing budget support going forward? Can you step up your marketing to play a bigger and better game? The criteria here are quite simple. Do more of what’s working and less of (or eliminate) what’s not.

So in closing, I’d like to leave you with a quote from unfortunately I don’t know who to attribute this variation to. Anyway it goes like this: "Those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it". So do yourself a huge favor and take the time to learn from your past marketing efforts. Something tells me you’ll be glad you did.

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then check out Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' at http://www.MotivationalMarketer.com. Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute' at http://www.onlinemarketingmuscle.com/marketingminute/ , -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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Top 10 Business and Marketing Lessons Learned in 2007 (Part II: The Second Five)

Well I certainly hope you enjoyed part I of this article where I shared with you the first five of my top 10 business and marketing lessons learned in 2007. To quickly summarize, they were:

#1 - Maintain an Attitude of Gratitude

#2 - Improve Myself… Attract Better Clients

#3 - Make a Conscious Effort to Use Time More Efficiently

#4 - The Clearer My Vision… The Greater My Results

#5 - The More I Measure… The Better My Decisions

If you’d like to review them in detail, you’ll find part I of this article on my blog the Motivational Marketer’s Journal at www.MotivationalMarketer.com.

In the meantime, as promised, here are the remainder of my top lessons learned in 2007:

#6 - Milk Each Marketing Campaign for all they’re Worth
“Anything worth doing is worth doing well”. I’m not sure who to credit for that statement however it is such sage advice. You’re better off doing a few things great than many things so-so. One hard lesson I learned this past year was that since I knew how to implement dozens of marketing strategies and tactics, I wanted to use them all. Therefore I started out doing just that and received mediocre results for my efforts. Once I scaled back and took on just a few of those marketing strategies and tactics, I was able to really maximize my effectiveness and get more results with less effort. So my point is for example, if you’re going to have a blog, be the best blogger you can be or, if you’re going to have a newsletter, publish the best newsletter you can, and then focus and maximize your efforts to gaining the most traction from them.

#7 - Love the Client’s you Want to Keep… Fire the Rest!
I’ve had the unfortunate experience of losing a loved-one this past year and let me tell you, life’s just too damn short to waste on screwing around with clients who don’t add value to your life. Business is a two-way street… every client/vendor relationship must be mutually beneficial and enjoyable else, give yourself permission to move on! It’s important here to lose the scarcity-mindset. There are plenty of clients out there for all of us. As a matter of fact I do believe that there are plenty out there that are meant to be served by you!

#8 - Increase the Quantity and Quality of Thinking Time
Turn off the radio… turn off the TV… grab a pen and paper… and a seat, and practice thinking. Let your thoughts run through your pen and onto the paper. Let your creativity and inner-genius flow. Think of ways to improve your value… think of ways to improve your client’s experience with you… think of ways to improve your productivity… think of ways to have more fun in your business… the bottom line is to practice thinking. I’ve been journaling my thoughts for years and believe me when I tell you that my best stuff has spawned from such thinking sessions… let alone the clarity of focused action that came as a result.

#9 - Mastermind Your Way to Success
This past year I participated in several different mastermind teams. Some focused on business… some focused on investing… and some focused on self-improvement. I am a firm believer that 2 minds are better than 1… let alone if you have a mastermind team of 5 or 6 great minds… the possibilities are endless! I garnered tons of insight and advice from all of my fellow mastermind teammates and I am eternally grateful to each and every one of them!

#10 - The Joy Is In the Journey… Not the Destination
Do yourself a huge favor and pause long enough to smell the roses. Driving yourself forward like a slave-driver is no way to go through life. This year I really took the opportunity to slow down and have more fun with my business. That didn’t mean get lazy. It just meant to consciously draw more joy out of every day. I not only had a more fruitful and enjoyable year, but all those around me seemed to as well… my vitality became contagious and also attracted others with similar vitality toward me!

So in closing, I just have to ask you, did any of my experiences shared here resonate with you? What lessons did you learn this past year? Take the time to do some reflection of your own… and then… why don’t you stop by my blog and share them? I’d love to hear all about them. In the meantime, allow yourself to learn from my experiences as well as the experiences of others around you and make this next year, a year to remember!

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then you won’t want to miss Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' (www.MotivationalMarketer.com). Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute' (www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com/marketingminute), -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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Top 10 Business and Marketing Lessons Learned in 2007 (Part I: The First Five)

It’s scary… 2007 has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Time sure seems to fly when you’re having fun… and I did have fun this past year. Not only because my results were better, but because I learned and/or re-learned so many great lessons along the way. And I intend to share with you 10 of those which had the most impact for me. I’ll share five here and five more in Part II of this article. So without further adieu here are the first five:

#1 - Maintain an Attitude of Gratitude
I’ve been keeping a daily gratitude journal for a few years now yet for some reason this year, something just seemed to click… kind of like a light switch just flicked on in my head. I began noticing patterns as well as more specificity in what I was truly grateful for. I began writing more from the heart and started letting go of my fears and inhibitions… I do believe that these were some of the same fears and inhibitions that were holding me back. I became much more grounded and tuned in this past year to what was really important to me in both my personal life, as well as in my business. Getting clear on what was important really focused me on not only what to do, but why I am doing it. It also strengthened my conviction and resolve to make these things happen. This I believe was the most important lesson for me in 2007… more important than any business skill or marketing strategy.

#2 - Improve Myself… Attract Better Clients
I’ve been a consummate student of self-discovery and self-improvement for the better part of the last 20 years… really upping my commitment to that cause over the past 5. I cannot articulate to you enough on how wonderful and fruitful this journey has been. It’s had such a profound effect on not only my life, but on the lives of all those around me. In terms of my business, it has helped me continuously attract an increasingly better quality of prospects and clients

#3 - Make a Conscious Effort to Use Time More Efficiently
One thing’s for certain, we’re all given the same exact amount of time each day to work with. No one is privy to a larger ration than their neighbor. This is a good thing. This levels the playing field and gives the small business owner a fighting chance for survival. What makes the difference is how we choose to use that time. This is where my lesson came in. The crux of the lesson was to work smarter not harder… wean my business away from purely trading time, my time, for money… the lesson was the power of leverage! And the two biggest areas of leverage for me this past year was leveraging the resources of others for mutual gain and repurposing content to get the most ‘bang for the buck’ out of it.

#4 - The Clearer My Vision… The Greater My Results
This one is such common sense that it is often overlooked and taken for granted. It really is much easier to get what you want if you know what it is you want. However ask 10 people to clearly describe what they want and see how difficult that question really is for most of them to answer. So for me it was not only getting clearer on what I wanted both personally and professionally but I also applied that same thinking to all of my marketing campaigns. Before embarking on each campaign, I began asking myself what I wanted as a result of carrying it out. This also provided me with a measurement I could use to track each marketing campaign’s effectiveness… I could then judge their viability going forward and make more sound business decisions.

#5 - The More I Measure… The Better My Decisions
Simply put, the numbers don’t lie. And simply figuring out what core metrics I needed to track, and those that I no longer needed to, have empowered me to make more educated decisions faster and with increased confidence. For example, keeping track of how many visitors stop by a specific web page that sells a specific product as well as how many of those visitors actually buy that product once there, is instrumental in knowing whether of not the sales copy on that web page is doing its job. This helps me figure out what actions I need to take (if any) on that web page.

So in closing, remember, reflection can be a powerful tool if leveraged properly. Yes this article serves as a kind-of therapeutic reflection for me. However, take advantage of my hard-learned lessons and maybe leverage them to cut your learning curve a bit.

© 2008 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then you won’t want to miss Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal' (www.MotivationalMarketer.com). Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute' (www.OnlineMarketingMuscle.com/marketingminute), -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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2 Types of Marketing Strategies Every Small Business Must Have To Not Only Survive but Thrive

Let’s face it. There are an endless number of marketing strategies and tactics that a small business can employ. And when you factor in all the different combinations of these, the task at hand of choosing which ones to use can be both daunting and overwhelming. Do I join a networking group? Should we advertise in the local newspaper? Should we participate in a trade show? Do we need a web site? All these choices can confuse you if you let them and simply put, a confused mind typically does nothing, it tends to lock up, and worse yet it typically doesn’t take the actions necessary to grow -- actions such as marketing your small business.

So what I’ve done for you here is identify 2 types of marketing strategies that every small business must have to not only survive but thrive. So here goes:

1. A “Lead Generation” Type of Strategy

This type of marketing strategy at a minimum brings awareness to your target market of who you are, what you do, and why they should listen to you. It should help you generate interest amongst your target market in what you bring to the table -- enough interest where they inquire about your products and services -- they become a prospect for you.

Some examples of “Lead Generation” strategies and tactics are:

• Advertising in trade magazines
• Submitting articles to online article directories
• Joint venture arrangements with others who serve your target market
• Endorsements from others who have an influence over your target market
• Referrals from others who have an influence over your target market
• Ethical bribes -- in other words offering something of value for free in exchange for contact information
• Public speaking to position yourself as an authority in your field
• Trade shows
• Networking events to meet and greet your target market

And we can go on an on and on here. However as you are probably starting to see your choices are endless so where do you start? Well how about choosing one or two that resonate immediately with you and work those for a while. If they seem to be working, continue, if not try a different one. In other words do more of what’s working and less of what’s not. The point is get into action!

2. A “Keep-In-Touch” Type of Strategy

Once you’ve acquired leads using any combination of “Lead Generation” strategies and tactics, it’s critical that you find ways to stay in front of them -- stay in front of them long and effectively enough to persuade them to respond positively to your call to action -- eventually becoming paying clients.

Some examples of “Keep-In-Touch” strategies and tactics are:

• Sending out a weekly newsletter
• Participating in online forums and social networks
• Making phone calls to share something your prospects may deem valuable
• Attending regular networking events to reconnect with prospects
• Emailing prospects an article that they may find useful
• Send holiday and birthday greeting cards
• Refer business to your prospects
• Invite prospects to events
• Be a connector by introducing one prospect to another that you feel they should know

And once again, we can go on an on and on here.

So in closing, keep it simple. Choose one or two from each type of marketing strategy and work them diligently. Yes you will definitely find that some are better than others for you however, I firmly believe that any one of them, if diligently applied, will bear fruit -- you just need to take massive action.

© 2007 Online Marketing Muscle -- All Rights Reserved.

Want to use this article in your newsletter, blog or web site? You have my blessing so long as you include the following complete blurb with it (including links).

Liked this article? -- Then you won’t want to miss Long Island-based marketing consultant, coach, and entrepreneur Dean Mercado’s highly acclaimed marketing blog 'The Motivational Marketer’s Journal'. Additionally, for even more small business marketing and success tips, sample the latest edition of his FREE marketing tips newsletter the 'Marketing Minute', -- a weekly multimedia e-zine designed to give you a jolt of marketing wisdom in less than 5 minutes.

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