5 Ways to Fit Marketing into Your Schedule.
June 22, 2010
Oh I’m guilty of it too. We get caught up in the day-to-day of our work; answering phone calls, putting out fires, payroll, inventory, life…. But the fact is, the long-term success of any business is dependent upon finding
the time to invest in the future. And one of the surest ways to insure your business will be around for the long-haul and continue to grow and flourish is to implement and use a marketing plan (and a system).
Here are 5 tips to help you manage your time and fit marketing into your regular routine
- Tackle one thing at a time. You don’t have to accomplish everything in one day. Choose monthly themes: make June website optimization month and July list building month and focus on that one task for the entire month. This makes marketing less overwhelming and gets you started in the right direction.
- Set marketing appointments with yourself. I can’t stress how important this is. I do this and every successful business owner I know does this. Write it down, put it on your calendar, block it out and don’t book anything during those times. If it’s not on your calendar, it’s too easy to forget about it and become so overbooked you never get to it. This is your time to work on your business – take it and use it.
- Hire someone. It doesn’t have to be a full time person and it doesn’t even have to be a marketing expert. Hire an intern or a student to make follow up calls to customers or write introductory letters to prospects or potential strategic partners. You can even hire someone on a commission basis to make outbound sales and appointment setting calls, or a writer to write your blogs. With so many un- and under- employed people out there, it’s not hard to find people who are willing to do some hourly or commission based work for you and this will free up hours of your time that you can devote to more productive endeavors.
- Plan your activities out for a year. Yup, a whole year. Create a marketing calendar for an entire year and plan your weekly and monthly marketing activities. For example: every Monday, blog, update Facebook; Wednesdays, call 5 customers and 10 prospects; once per month, review website, do a postcard mailing. Once you have everything laid out in front of you it makes it so much easier to manage and actually get it done. I like a printed calendar and I hang it in my office right in front of me so I can visualize it. I also set reminders in outlook as a double-reminder that my business must not be neglected!
- Take baby steps. This kind of goes with #1- but in addition to taking things one at a time, baby steps is about finding what it takes to get over a hurdle and take that first step. Does a task seem overwhelming and insurmountable? Then don’t think about the big ole scary task – break it into smaller parts and tackle the little parts instead. Don’t think “Oh my god, I need 20 sales this month. How am I going to do that?” Instead think, “Ok, to get 20 sales, I need to get 5 this week – or one per day. What can I do to make 1 sale today?” Isn’t one sale a whole lot easier and manageable than 20? I love to think of things in terms of baby steps. I’ve never accomplished anything in life by tackling the entire task all at once. That just leaves me overwhelmed and paralyzed in fear. Instead, I tell myself, “take baby-steps, one small step at a time…”. I know that soon I’ll be taking bigger and bigger steps and before you know it I’ll be off and running. It works every time.
Managing your time and fitting marketing into your schedule are critical to the future success and sustainability of your business. Marketing is a vital component to building a business, getting and converting leads, satisfying customers, making sales, increasing profits and achieving your goals. With the proper marketing strategy and time investment the possibilities are endless!
Small Business Owners: Are You Living The Dream?
March 21, 2010
One of the things I talk a lot about in my small business marketing seminars is setting goals for your business. This is a crucial step toward achieving success and living “The Dream” of entreprenurship: pride of business ownership; flexibility; profits; control over their personal and professional lives, etc. However, I meet small business owners every day who just don’t quite seem to be living “The Dream”. So, I’ve been wondering: what were the goals and dreams these entreprenuers had when they set out? What was it that drove them to leave a regular paycheck, health insurance and stability behind and go it alone? Are these business owners living their dreams and achieving their goals? Or have they gotten lost along the way in the daily grind of running a business? Have they forgotten they once had dreams, goals and ideas for their business and their lives?
As a marketer – and someone who wants to help small businesses grow and thrive – I sometimes have to face the fact that not all small business owners want my help. Where I may see huge potential for growth, popularity and profits some are quite content to stay where they are. I don’t always understand it; but then I don’t walk in their shoes. So I’m really curious about this and I want to hear from you – the entrepreneur, the small business owner, the president/founder/CEO of your own company.
- Why did you take that leap into self-employment?
- What did you hope to achieve? Was it fame and fortune? Or was it something a little less… let’s say, grandiose.
- Were you just sick of working for others and saw an opportunity to work for yourself? Or was it something else?
- Have you achieved everything you set out to?
- If not why and what are you doing, if anything to work toward your goals and your dreams?
I want to devote this week’s blog to all of you- and I want to hear your stories. I’m sure others do too – this is how we learn. I look forward to reading your comments! Please click here to tell your story. (And then scroll down to the comments section on the bottom of the page)
Small Business: Are you a Winner or are you Happy to Just be on the Team?
February 7, 2010
In honor of Super Bowl XLIV I want to write about what it takes to be a winner. Whether it’s sports, business or life there are a few things that separate the winners from the losers.
- The desire to win. This may seem really obvious. But stop. Really think about it a minute: The desire to WIN. Do you really have a desire to WIN or do you simply have a desire to be there? Are you happy just to show up every Sunday and play or do you want to be the best and make it to the Big Game? As a business owner, did you set out to create something that earns you recognition (in the form of lots of customers) and renders the fulfillment of a dream and a lifestyle? Or did you start your business just to show up to a job every day that didn’t require taking orders from someone else? So, is your goal to win- or just to be on the team?
- The belief that you can win. If you go into any endeavor or wake up each morning thinking “I can’t” – you won’t. The key to being a success is believing that you can do anything you put your mind to and putting all of your energy and efforts into making it happen. I doubt a single Super Bowl winner went into the Big Game – or the NFL for that matter – thinking they couldn’t win. There are no pessimists in the winner’s circle. If you think your business isn’t meant for big things, you won’t ever achieve big things. If you think “I can’t {sell, market, grow, find the time…}” – Then guess what, you won’t. If Peyton Manning had said, “There is no way I’ll be the NFL MVP 4 times in my career”, he wouldn’t have been. No matter what, believe that you can – and you will.
- Hard work and commitment. No one ever achieved anything by just sitting around and waiting for good things to happen. Luck doesn’t make winners; hard work, commitment and perseverance do. If you want something you have to go out and get it. You have to work hard, you have to learn and practice and push yourself beyond your comfort zones. Jerry Rice didn’t get to the Hall of Fame by keeping his workouts and training comfortable and easy; he pushed himself -each and every day – to do better than he did the previous day. And Peyton Manning didn’t make it to his 2nd Super Bowl by resting on his laurels after his first Super Bowl win or by giving up when he didn’t win the next one. Success is hard work. Success is a commitment. It’s completely up to you. Do you simply want to play… or do you want to win?
What It Takes To Be a Winner
What are you doing in your business to push yourself beyond your comfort zone to take your game to the next level; to make it to the big time? And for fun, who are you rooting for today and why? Leave your comments by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the next page.
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