One of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year was to write a book. I’ve heard for many years and from many different people that “everyone has a book within them” and when I wrote that goal it was because I decided to finally act on that premise. I guess only time will tell if it’s true or not with me!
At any rate, I’ve started the process many times of sitting down to try and actually start the process. Needless to say, I haven’t gotten far.
And not to say that’s it’s been completely frustrating, but it has been a bit maddening, especially since it’s one of my goals that I really REALLY want to get knocked off this year.
So, what to do about this giant obstacle standing in my way?
Well, I was recently reading a book, Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan and I can’t remember if he just comes out and admits it or not, but the book is basically a collection of blog posts he wrote. Once I made the realization, it was like the light switch flipped on! (Yes, I’ll readily admit that it isn’t always on).
So, in following the example of Chris, and other well known authors as I’ve come to learn, I’ll be using my blog as a testing ground for my book. I’m hoping to follow the same basic structure and outline in my blog that I’ll be using for my book.
What will the book be about?
Well, since my blog is about local marketing and how you can do it more effectively, it only makes sense that the book will follow the same categorization.
Again, my goal is to have a completed book by the end of 2010 and since we’re already well into the 7th month of the year, it’s safe to say I have quite a bit of work to do.
I also know that no matter how painful or challenging it might be, my very first step is to sit down and come up with the outline or structure for the book. As I’ve been talking about, teaching, and helping countless small businesses with their marketing efforts for quite some time now, coming up with the content won’t be a problem. Organizing it into an easy-to-follow and enjoyably digestable format, if there even is such a thing, will be my biggest challenge.
So, if you haven’t already bookmarked this blog and you’re interested in getting a bird’s eye view at a book in the making, then go ahead and bookmark it right now.
If you don’t, that’s okay too, but I can’t promise there will be a blooper real at the end, so you might just miss out on a lot of the fun!
We just wrapped up the 7 critical elements to successfully marketing your products or services, and I hope you’ve taken the time to read about each of these 7 marketing elements.
If you haven’t already read them, you’ll find them here:
- Marketing Should Be Your #1 Responsibility
- Branding Is NOT Marketing
- Direct Response Marketing Is King
- Join The Conversation
- Educate Your Prospects and Customers
- Develop Real Relationships
- Marketing Consistency is CRITICAL
Okay, now that you’ve caught yourself up with what we’re talking about, there’s another critical distinction we need to make in order to truly understand marketing and see how it can help you grow your business. And that distinction is the difference between marketing strategies and marketing tactics.
Marketing strategies are the over-arching plan of attack. It’s the why you do what you do when it comes to marketing your products or services. It’s the roadmap that gets you from Point A to Point Z.
Tactics on the other hand are simply tools, methods, or mediums you use to carry out your marketing strategy. They’re the actual vehicles that get you from Point A to Point Z.
(definitions courtesy of Dictionary.com)
Unfortunately, when most people think of marketing they think of tactics, and not the strategy. As a result, they end up investing money on marketing methods or tactics that aren’t well suited for their particular business, they end up frustrated because they things they’re doing don’t seem to be working, and they end up with this false belief that marketing doesn’t work.
When you try to do anything without a clear sense of purpose or objective, you can bet it’s going to fail. The same can be said for marketing your small business.
In the next week or so I’ll be sharing some specific ideas and action steps you could take to help you implement a powerful, profit producing marketing strategy that will create new customers and clients for you, so stay tuned!
I know it’s easy to get down and depressed when you read or watch the daily news reports about what’s going on in the economy. Unemployment’s still a huge concern, taxes appear to be headed up, and consumers are spending less yet the competition remains as fierce and competitive as always.
While there really isn’t much I can do about any of those things, what I can tell you is that in reality, none of it really matter.
I know, I know. I can hear you now, “None of that really WHAT!?!”
Listen, one thing that holds true for any business, no matter the industry and no matter what’s happening in the economy, is the simple fact that you control your destiny. That’s right, YOU’RE IN CONTROL.
How can I say this with such confidence?
First, because you have to start seeing your business for what it really is, a provider of products and/or services that people want, need, and will happily pay for no matter what the talking heads on TV or radio say. Sure, things are little scary out in the real world right now, but people haven’t stopped spending money. They haven’t cut up all their credits cards and they haven’t taken to raising their own cattle and planting gardens. At least not yet.
What this means is that there is still plenty of business to be had, if you’re willing to go out and get it.
Second, you’re in control because most of your competition is simply hunkering down just hoping to make it out of this mess alive. They’re of the mistaken mindset that if they can just last long enough for things to turn around that they’ll soon be whistling Dixie once again.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news for these folks, but that ain’t gonna happen. While things are certainly tough, it’s definitely NOT the time to sit back and wish for better days.
To not only survive, but ultimately thrive in today’s marketplace you MUST be actively engaged in growing your business. That means investing in new marketing campaigns, training your employees, finding ways to improve your produce or service, and just looking for ways to get more business.
Is that a scary proposition? It can be, but not if you have a solid plan in place and you’ve figured out how to differentiate yourself from the competition.
So if you’re goal is to do more than simply survive the storm, then you’d better figure out a way to invest what resources you do have so you can continue to expand your customer base and ultimately, your business. If you don’t, chances are you’ll be even more in tune with what the latest unemployment report says because that number might just include you!
Not only does it make for a great song title, but it’s also a powerful business building truth that can serve you well in troubled times. You see, most businesses mistakingly think that if they simply market their business via one method, they’ll be just fine. WRONG!
When you’re using just one method to market your business, whatever that method might be, you’re setting yourself up for disaster. Whether it’s online, or the yellow pages, or tele-marketing, or networking, or even encouraging your customers to provide referrals, by employing just one method of generating new business you put your business at risk if anything were to happen to that one stream.
Picture a bath tub for just a moment. While you may have a powerful stream of water filling up the tub, you also have the drain that’s letting some of that water escape. Now, for the time being the stream might be filling the tub faster than the drain allows the water to escape. But what happens if the stream get’s turned off for any reason at all? Sure, your tub will have water for a little while, but eventually it’s going to be empty.
Now, what do you think would happen if instead of just one stream filling your tub with water, you had multiple streams of water filling your tub? So instead of just relying on the yellow pages for new business, you also had systems in the local newspaper, or on the Internet, or relationships with other businesses, or your networking activities, or any other method of marketing your business you can think of?
This time when the main stream gets shut off, your tub won’t end up empty because you have all these other sources of customers keeping it filled.
It’s the same idea with your business. When you rely on just one source of generating new customers, you put your business at risk. So, look to employ AS MANY marketing methods as you profitably can so that when the day does come that you lose one of your streams, you’ll still be able to grow you business at a healthy rate.
