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Adrianne Machina, DTM Coach
http://TornadoMktg.com
Shouldn't I release a press release anytime during the year when I have something newsworthy?
Shouldn't I be blogging all year round?
There's something that I'm missing here.
Same goes for each month - build a media list, research story angles, set-up an account with PRWeb and learn how to use it, create the internal process for writing and sending monthly news releases - that's the focus for PR month, but then your ongoing tactics fall from your initial month's work.
It forces people to think ahead and hold themselves accountable for inputs into the marketing process and the results that come out the other end.
I must blog about this myself John although I do wonder whether eventually, even the worst victim of Parkinson's Law won't have "all the time in the world".
At the same time, scheduling the calendar as a whole is also crucially important. I find it so easy to launch something today only to forget about it in a month, which never really gives it the repetition and attention that it needs to succeed. Most businesses would be better off picking fewer strategies and doing them to the full than zig zagging their way through a year, reacting at every little turn.
I would also add the obvious strategy of a hiring a marketing firm, consultant, coach, or buying a marketing system. These strategies should help with the lack of time mentality.
Your post makes me think of the quote
"What get's measured gets done"
We need to measure out our time to SCHEDULE into Outlook our marketing activities...and not just schedule them....DO THEM!
Regards,
Mike Saunders
www.MarketingHuddle.com
Sometimes it’s like you’re watching my business. You seem to know what’s going on all the time. I’ve been pretty busy with my business. Some of what I’ve been doing is the actual work that generates my paid for service, some marketing.
I wanted to confirm that marketing your business does generate more business and lack of marketing may cause your business to completely dry up. Here’s what happened to me...
For the last 2 years I’ve been so busy with work that I had not done any marketing to speak of. I was too busy and it didn’t seem to matter because my phone kept ringing and the work kept coming in. Then it hit. The slow down this summer. The phone wasn’t ringing, I was mostly out of work and my bills were still coming in. When this realization hit I knew I had made a mistake. Had I been marketing regularly I don’t think the slow down would have ever came. At the very least I would have known that I was doing everything I could to generate new business. So hear I am sitting at the end of three slow months. For the last six weeks I’ve been marketing and selling like it’s my full time job. The future is looking very bright. My August billings were almost back to an acceptable level. Looking forward looks good too.
So I learn best from making mistakes. Moving forward marketing will be in my plan, schedule and on my calendar.
I love your idea about wallboarding monthly marketing themes too, and I'm going to incorporate it in the business plan I'm formulating (in 8 1/2 x 11 format). Marketing should be the beachhead of any product introduction. I have to sheepishly admit marketing usually is the last of my boats to come ashore.
Thanks for the suggestions and the focusing strategy.
Whenever people tell me they are too busy to market (after calling me stressed that they don't have any clients), I always wonder what else could be more important than getting clients or customers.
My mantra this week is "it's the business model, stupid!" and this includes a solid strategy and calendar of tactical activities.
Most people theoretically know that marketing is important, they believe other things are more important. For some people, it's because they have business and don't realize that marketing can help them change a premium for their goods and services if they can stoke up demand.
For the rest, marketing often takes a back seat because business owners find it overwhelming or because it's hard for them to connect specific marketing efforts with results.
Here are some thoughts. Try to connect the dots between activity and results. Figure out how you'll measure success and set up systems that will help you do so. Not all activities lend themselves to easy measurement, but it may make sense to start with those that do--such as direct marketing.
For businesses that find marketing difficult, one alternative is to outsource the parts that are hard. Another thing is to put a toe in the water--rather than getting overwhelmed by trying to do it all.
As John notes, it's important that you do whatever you do regularly and consistently to make an impact. Start with things that you don't mind doing and commit to them. Hopefully, as these activities move beyond startup, they'll be easier to complete because you'll have an infrastructure. Also, as you see results, you'll add other activities to your repertoire.
Angie A. Swartz, Founder, Six Figure Moms Club
www.SixFigureMomsClub.com
Great post John.. One of my favourites thus far
As well as the aspect of helping make time, creating a calendar entry can help you break tasks down into small parts which makes them less of a pain.
All I have to do is work out how to do this with my accounts!
I used to do everything on notepads and postit notes. I spent more time tracking down and reorganizing my notes than any thing else.
If you would like a tool to manage your small business activities and Projects, you can use this aplication:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage and prioritize your Goals (for business but also in other areas of your life), Projects and Tasks. It has a Checklists section, for the routines and repetitive activities that any business has to do. Also, it features a Schedules section and a Calendar, for scheduling you time and activities.
Some features from GTD are also present, like Contexts and Next Actions.
And it's available on the mobile phone too, so you can access it from anywhere.