International Trade

Someone asked me the other day if it was really worth their while to spend money on marketing to grow their business. My inside voice said "only if you want to stay in business" and my outside voice responded with "only if you want to stay in business".

With over 85% of small businesses failing in the first three years of operation, one has to wonder why this number is so high. So I did a little research and this is what I found. It turns out that banks, business schools and different organizations that support small business were asking themselves the same thing. With a passion (not unlike mine) to see small businesses succeed, they decided to find an answer. They decided to survey small businesses and find out what the heck was going on. Funny thing, all of them found the same revealing yet simple answer to the question. Why are so many small businesses failing - simply, put "it is a lack of marketing".

Even after discovering this, I was still perplexed as to why someone would put so much "blood, sweat, and tears" into creating something that they love just to see it disappear before their eyes. But then I realized that we all start businesses (and I'm no exception) because we want to work for ourselves doing something that we love. We are entrepreneurs at heart and we have a special gift or talent or passion for a certain something and we just gotta do it. So we start our own (marketing, retail, literacy, training) business with all the right intentions to make it successful. But then we get so involved in working in the business that we forget or don't know that we need to work on the business.

So how do you break the cycle of working in your business instead of on it? Simple, you have a plan:

1) schedule time with yourself each day or each week to work on marketing (do not break these appointments; they are as important as any appointment you would make with a client)

2) decide in advance what you want to do for the year for marketing (this will eliminate the "promotional panic" where you will spend money and get no results)

3) commit to a budget to support your efforts (decide on a number that you can spend monthly without throwing up; you can't grow on zero dollars)

4) identify your ideal client (it's easier, cheaper and more effective to market to a specific group of people that wants your service than to market to the masses)

5) define your differentiation and communicate it (you have to stand out from the crowd/competition if you don't want to be shopped on price)

6) create a system that allows you frequent and regular contact with your prospects and clients (it takes 7 - 10 touches for someone to know, like and trust you and then buy from you)

7) stop talking about you in your marketing materials and start talking to your ideal client (people want to know what's in it for them; tell them about the benefits; not the features)

To quote from the Duct Tape Marketing book "if you're in business, you're in the business of marketing".

As a Duct Tape Marketing Expert and Small Business Marketing Coach, Brenda understand the value of creating a solid marketing plan without spending a fortune.

If you would like to receive a 7 Simple Steps to Small Business Marketing Success and her Free Weekly Marketing Tips please subscribe at http://www.criticaledgemarketing.com.