Marketing Information |
Youre Halfway There!...Or Not Part 1
The year is almost over and the last half of this year will fly by just as fast as the first half.Are you on target for meeting your business goals for this year? If you answered yes, congratulations!Keep reading for ideas that will help you stay on track. If you answered no, don't panic.Keep reading to find out how to get back on track soyou can meet or exceed your business goals for this year. This is part 1 of a 2 part article series that will show youhow to avoid another year of not reaching your business goals. DURING JULY: Spend the month of July creating a marketing plan for the rest of this year. How can your business make a greater impact in the marketplace before this year is over?What marketing strategies worked for you and which ones bombed so far this year?Focus on the strategies that are working for you, and work to make them even better to ensure greater results and more clients before the end of this year. Think about holding a contest or special event before this year is over.You can create something unique or you can tie your event into a major holiday. Put the event on your marketing calendar and give yourselfat least three months to plan and promote it. Set a goal to issue at least three Press Releases before this year is out.Think about upcoming programs and services that you are launching and find a way to create a newsworthy Press Release about it.Mark the dates for issuing your Press Releases on your marketing calendar. Set a goal to do at least two marketing campaigns before this year is out.If you are not on target for meeting your revenue goals for this year, you will need to do more than two campaigns.Maximize the effectiveness of each campaign by doing an online versionas well as a direct mail version. DURING AUGUST: In August, focus on generating more revenue for your business.Since 'Back to School' is a major theme during this month,'educate' your clients and prospects.You can do this through value packed seminars, teleclasses, infoproducts, and conferences.In addition to providing value, your goal is to show your prospectshow you can help them solve their problems. You can offer a Fall sale for a service or product that is new or old, but make sure your prospects are aware of the increased value of the offer due to the decreased price. Make the offer compelling enough so they will buybefore the sale ends. If you don't have an infoproduct, spend the month of August creating your first one and draft a plan for future infoproducts. DURING SEPTEMBER: In September, leave obscurity behind.Gain more recognition for your business throughpublic speaking, networking, and publishing. Volunteer to speak at seminars held by business associations or your local chamber. Start with business associations that you are a member of, and look for other opportunities for speaking by offering to speak in front of local groups that are comprised of your target market. Step up your networking activities to gain more visibility for your business. If you are currently only doing yournetworking offline, add online networking to the mix. Approach every networking opportunity with the intentto connect with at least three people.Focus on learning more about their business and their challenges. Exchange business cards after you have made a connection and follow up immediately.Stay in touch with your networking contacts on a regular basis. If you are not already publishing a newsletter, spend the month of September creating your first one.If you don't want to commit to publishing a newsletter on a regular basis, then publish articles that focus on your areas of expertise. TAKE ACTION NOW! Spend some time implementing these ideas for your business during the next three months, and you will be on track formeeting your business goals for this year. Copyright 2004 Black Unicorn Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved Tresaca Hamilton is the CEO of Black Unicorn Communications.Black Unicorn Communications helps Service Businesses attract more clients in less time. Visit http://www.blackunicorninc.com for a FREE Business Success Toolkit, including the 7 day e-course: 7 Steps To More Clients
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Newsletters are Marketing Machines! Is your business publishing a print or e-newsletter? An informative publication is a great way to stay in touch with your customers and leads. It also reinforces your expertise in your industry. Use Events to Market on the Internet Having difficulty knowing what to offer people online? Worried that your prospects are too bombarded by sales pitches to pick yours out from the hundreds they get every day?Try something different - an event!Events have a number of benefits over standard marketing approaches. Some of these benefits include:Events are perceived as informational and are often more accepted than sales pitches. Trapped in Your Comfort Zone? Break Out and Send Your Marketing Skyrocketing A marketer whose advice I generally respect recently published an article about how to find your comfort zone and stick to it in your business in order to create a more harmonious work environment.In theory, it makes sense. Trigger Button Marketing Sometimes, experiencing bleak sales is a matter of failing to find your prospective customers' trigger buttons.By trigger buttons, we mean anything that the customer would find of peculiar value. Trade Show Promotional Products - Boosting Booth Traffic I was about seven or eight years old when I learned the value of promotional items at trade shows. I just didn't know it yet. The Easiest Small Business Direct Marketing Tip You'll Ever Get This really and truly is the easiest (and most profitable) small business direct marketing tip you'll ever get. And when I say easy? I really mean EASY. Simple Marketing Strategies Versus an SEO Line of Attack! Each and every day those of us on the Internet are bombarded with information about Search Engine Optimization and all that goes along with it. For the majority of folks who are promoting a business online, this can often lead to confusion especially when it comes to understanding key words, meta tags and title tags. The Power of Thank You Sometimes we loose site of the small things in life that are incredibly important. As a child growing up in America, most people are taught from a very young age to say Thank You in appreciation of a courtesy extended by someone. Spring Cleaning: How To Do It In Your Business To Make More Room For Success With the arrival of Spring, I decided to get outside and into my garden.I had neglected to do some basic maintenance during the previous months and wondered if my plants suffered any permanent damage as a result. Trade Shows Are Not a Waste! According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (the trade association for trade shows), industry spends more than $60 billion annually on trade show participation, more than the expenditures for magazines, radio and outdoor billboards combined! And, trade shows are more cost-effective than direct selling when it comes to reaching new customers.But, despite the abundance of opportunities that trade shows provide, many executives complain that their trade show expenditures offer little return for the investment of money and time. Fundraising Letters Are Easier To Write With AIDA Learn a lesson from professional direct mail copywriters. They follow a time-tested format in their sales letters, a format that you can also follow when writing direct mail fundraising letters for your non-for-profit organization. Newsletters - A Great Way to Build Business Relationships This is an excellent way to grow your business using yourmailing list (which I trust you are constantly building).However, you have to accept that there are people who'llread your newsletter and there are those who won't. Devious and Deceptive Packaging Have you read anything in the news lately about childhood obesity, Jose Canseco and steroids, or fat free foods? Where is the truth in any of that?If only we lived and shopped in a pure world where labels told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But while consumers rely on labels to make wise nutritional choices, food manufacturers use labels to sell their product. Using a Marketing Calendar Template Owning a small business isn't easy, especially if you are running it alone. Between moving products, taking orders, paying bills, and taking care of family, it is easy to lose track of everything you need to do. Reinventing The Wheel Revolutionary ideas have always been the mark of mankind. It's what made us superior to animals and prove that we are the dominant species of this planet. Top 10 Tips To Market & Build Your Professional Practice In building and running a professional practice (or any small business or a home-based business), there are many items that must be monitored closely. As a small operation, you can't afford to find out too late that a critical aspect of your business has gotten off-track! This list looks at 10 items to emphasize at the start of a new year, or any time you want to rapidly grow your business in a short period of time. Mailing Lists - Keeping it Simple The right direct mailing list targets people who want your product or service.The direct mail mailing list is a key factor in a successful direct mail marketing campaign and a major point to consider in small business marketing strategies where marketing ROI (Return On Investment) is a key concern. Standards for Dry Washing and Pressure Washing in Mobile Car Care The industry standard for mobile washing is completing the car and removing the dirt so it is clean as promised to the customer. Some would say this is not a standard but rather the minimum required. The Silver Bullet For Success: Revealed Looking for the magic formula or the whiz-bang approach that will unlock your business success? Are you willing to pay hundreds for it? How about thousands? Guess what, you are not alone. Just as people, for ages, have searched for the fountain of youth, entrepreneurs and small business owners around the world are looking for the silver bullet for success: that one sure-fire way to achieve the success that they want without doing a thing. How to Use Business Cards to Network and Market Your Business You've had one thousand of the finest, most eye-catching business cards printed. Now, what do you do with them?Networking with business cards is one of the most cost effective means of marketing your business--and yourself. |
home | site map | contact us |