Who hasn't purchased from (or at least heard of) Amazon.com? It's one of the most profitable, successful ecommerce sites in the world. More importantly, the site is now providing an opportunity for YOU to monetize your expertise, attract new clients and customers and create massive visibility for your work.

This week, I'm interviewing my friend, Kathleen Gage, The Street Smarts Marketer, on her insider tips to making your first Kindle product a best-seller overnight. Click the PLAY button to listen to the audio now!

Here's the nitty gritty:    

Stumbling into a marketing pitfall can happen even to the most seasoned entrepreneur. The key to avoiding these traps is knowledge. You must know what they are and where they are in order to keep your business out of harms way. Listen to this week's episode to learn 5 pitfalls to avoid as you strive to increase your success as a small business owner.

Fortunately, such tactics are not necessary to enjoy a profitable business. And that is certainly NOT the Smart Simple Marketing way. To me, marketing is simply a matter of sharing solutions with people who are already looking for them.

You and I both face a number of problems each day, both in our personal and professional lives. And of course, we are always on the lookout for solutions to those problems. We seek solutions that are simple, easy and provide a return on our investment.

So as long as you're showing up when and where your ideal clients are looking for the solutions you offer (aka marketing), you will have a never-ending stream of great clients to work with.

What you don't want to do is shoot yourself in the foot by making common mistakes that will undermine your efforts. Take a moment to take stock of what you're doing to grow your business and make sure that you aren't making one of these critical errors:     

1. Spending too little time on your marketing - Focusing on your marketing only when you remember to do so (or worse yet, when you need more clients) is a really bad way to approach growing your business. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Commit to doing something specific EVERY day to grow your business and achieve your goals. All of all the effort you put forth will add up to BIG results.
2. Not choosing a target market - Marketing to "everyone" because "everyone" needs what you have to offer is going to exhaust and frustrate you. Even IF everyone needs what you offer (which I don't think is really true), you don't have the time, budget or energy to market to them, let alone work with them all. So, FOCUS your energy on marketing ONLY to your target audience. You'll get much better results and take a lot of pressure off yourself.
3. Trying to do too much - You don't have to pursue 19 different marketing strategies to be successful. And you shouldn't because you can't juggle that many projects anyway. Choose 2-3 strategies that really fit your audience and your goals, and stick with them.
4. Giving up too soon - You can't try something for one day or one week and then throw it aside because you didn't get the results you wanted. There is no magic wand you can wave to instantly transform your business. If you choose a particular strategy, stick with it for at least 3 months and see it through. THEN you can make an informed decision about whether to continue with it, tweak it or ditch it.
5. Not following up promptly - All the effort you put forth to market your business is for naught if you don't follow-up on the leads you get. Make it a point to follow-up on ALL interest promptly (within 24-48 hours). This shows your prospect that you are diligent, committed and serious, which significantly boosts your credibility.

If you find that you are making one of these mistakes (or all of them), don't beat yourself up. At one point or another every entrepreneur, even those you admire greatly, have fallen victim to these pitfalls.

Instead, be honest about where you're falling short and make the decision to do something about it. All of these problem areas we've highlighted can easily be addressed with a simple mindset shift, a commitment to change and a focus on follow through.

If you would like some help taking the first step, I will gladly walk you step-by-step through the process of creating a simple Money Map. Having this tool in hand will keep you focused and help you makeover your less than stellar marketing habits. Get INSTANT access to this powerful marketing tool at http://www.createyourmoneymap.com.

Blogging about your business is an excellent way to drive traffic to your website and attract high-quality leads. You can get even more mileage out of your blog posts, and create massive online visibility for your work, by re-purposing your content into other formats. This strategy will have you showing up EVERYWHERE and standing heads taller than your "competitors" (I prefer to think of them as colleagues) when a prospect goes online looking for the solutions you have to offer. Click on the play button above to listen in as Denise Wakeman, Founder of The Blog Squad, explains how!

In today's inaugural episode, listen in (by clicking the PLAY button above) as I interview Tom Petty, Master-level instructor at the Search Engine Academy in the San Francisco Bay Area, on how to use online press releases to attract massive traffic to your website. Tom and I implemented this strategy last week for Smart Simple Marketing, so I wanted to share with you the details on what we did and how it worked!

Steps:  

1. Tom and I brainstormed the topic on Monday
2. Tom and I wrote the press release on Tuesday - You can see the release here: http://smartsimplemarketing.com/press-release-free-weekly-marketing-solutions/
3. I recorded a video on Tuesday to accompany the press release (this step is optional)     

If you are a new user like me or considering getting an iPhone, I wanted to share a few nifty tricks I've discovered on how to grow my business using my trusty device:

Sydni Craig-Hart, founder of Smart Simple Marketing, announced that they will be hosting weekly expert conversations with professionals who will help small business owners implement simple, profitable marketing strategies in 2012. These "Take 10" ten minute coffee breaks will be offered free on the company blog and podcast channel.

Emeryville, CA (PRWEB) January 05, 2012 - Smart Simple Marketing, a San Francisco Bay Area marketing coaching firm, will be featuring industry experts over the course of 2012 to offer free, ten minute "coffee break" interviews. These interviews will provide expert marketing advice to small business owners and service professionals who want to increase their profits and get new clients this year.

Sydni Craig-Hart, the founder, said, "Small business owners are looking for actionable and practical ideas that they can put into place right away to get new clients or increase their profits. They don't always have 45 minutes or an hour to spend learning from their mentors. This is a way to get simple, practical, actionable information into their hands FAST!"     

To get profitable results, your marketing doesn't have to be perfect. But it DOES have to be consistent! With simple, consistent action each day and each week you’ll find yourself steadily achieving your business goals and increasing your income. In this week’s episode I share some practical tips that you can use to create more consistency and start reaching your goals. Please let me know which ONE tip you plan to implement by posting a comment below!

Do you find that your marketing efforts are haphazard and all over the place? If so, you're not alone. Consistency is the one area where entrepreneurs often have the most trouble. It's an area to give careful attention though, because in order to grow your business and your income, you need to consistently connect with people who are already looking for what you have to offer. (Really, that's all marketing is.)

Focusing on just a FEW key marketing strategies at a time – and not spreading yourself too thin – is guaranteed to get you the best results. Honing in on these strategies and doing them week in and week out will ensure your target market remembers you are available to serve them and give them an opportunity to purchase what you have to offer.

Even if you are not a structured, scheduled kind of person, you can make improvements in this regard. (Believe me, it takes one to know one...I'm not the most structured person you ever wanted to meet!) Creating consistency with your marketing efforts is as simple as picking two to three strategies, creating systems for them and working your plan each and every day.

Here's a few tips that I you can model for your business to help get your marketing on track and implemented consistently:

• Schedule time for marketing EACH day and EACH week: I know this sounds simple but don’t disregard it! You likely have at least one recurring appointment on your calendar each week, whether it is for business or your personal life. You keep that appointment each week because it's important to you and see the benefits of doing so. You need to have the same approach to your marketing. You can’t leave it to chance. Even if you just spend 30 minutes a day focusing on taking specific action to grow your business, you will see a significant increase in your profits.
• Do your marketing FIRST thing: How do you start your day? Do you have a habit of starting each day by reading email? Bad idea. That pulls you right into reactive mode; doing what other people need you to do and want you to do. Of course, there is certainly a place for that. You do need to set aside time to respond to the messages you receive. However, you don’t have to START your day in that mode. Choose instead to start your day with a marketing activity. Update your blog. Follow-up with prospective clients. Write your email newsletter. Update your social media profiles. Whatever the activity is, you’re starting your day focused on growth. You’ll start seeing immediate results from your consistent efforts.
• Work your plan: One of the reasons many entrepreneurs struggle with their marketing is because they are trying to do too much and don’t know where to start first. When you follow a plan, you’ll keep yourself from wasting time and money on strategies that don’t fit you. You’ll consistently enjoy better results (ie: more profits!) because you are taking focused action. If you have not yet developed your plan for the coming year, you can use my plug and play system to Create Your Money Map.
• Be accountable to yourself:Left to our own devices, NONE of us will stay as focused on our goals as we need to be. We are constantly being inundated with new information, opportunities and distractions each day. And it is very easy to flake out on ourselves. So it’s imperative that you create an accountability system for yourself.This is what makes marketing coaching so powerful. You have a mentor, who has already walked in your shoes, to help you strategize, hold your feet to the fire for the promises you make, and help you work through your excuses and eliminate where you stand in your own way. Investing in the right coach is the BEST investment you can make in YOURSELF. When you show up fully and do the work, investing in coaching always, always pays for itself! No entrepreneur should be without a coach or a mentor and that includes you. If you haven’t already partnered with a coach, I would love to connect with you, learn about your goals and your struggles and discuss how we can work together to create more profits and more success in your business. To schedule your FREE strategy session, you just need to share with me a few details about your business. (Don't worry! What you share is just between you and me.)

You don't have to overhaul your entire operation to get organized and start marketing your business consistently. With a few simple tweaks and consistent effort you WILL get results! Schedule time for marketing each day, start your days off with marketing your business, work your plan and create accountability for yourself. In no time at all, you’ll start seeing an increase in visibility, clients and income!

Which tip will you implement first? Please share your thoughts with me on the blog!

Joseph Ghabi once said: “Your life will begin changing the moment you decide that you want it to.”

I’ve found that the same is true for growing your business. If you want to see different results than what you’ve seen in the past, you must make a heartfelt decision to do things differently. You need to start with making over your mindset.

Mental blocks can hold you back and keep you from achieving your goals. When you sit down to work on your business are you clear and focused, or is your mind cluttered with ideas, client requests, overdue items and more?

The FIRST step to achieving your goals is de-cluttering and organizing your mind. When you do this, you’ll be able to clearly define what you want to accomplish and start taking the necessary action to achieve your goals.

If a never ending to do list, too many ideas for marketing your business, missed opportunities and a constant state of overwhelm are running your life, it’s time to clear out the old and get organized. When you do this, you’ll find that it’s easier to focus on marketing your business consistently and effectively.

Here are seven simple practices that you can use NOW to do just that:

• Document EVERYTHING! – When your brain is busy trying to keep track of the many details that are floating around your head, you begin to feel stressed out and overwhelmed. Write down everything! For years, my husband told me to do this but I ignored him – until I finally started to see that there was too much for me to manage on my own. Once I started taking his advice, EVERYTHING changed. The same can be true for you. Get a notebook if you prefer the pen and paper type of note taking, or use Evernote. No matter how you do it – start documenting every aspect of how you run and market your business. Getting it all out of your head and onto paper is going to relieve a tremendous amount of stress.
• Create a login file – In this day and age, the number of accounts you need to log into on a daily basis seems to be growing each week! Keeping track of all that information in your head is a surefire recipe for disaster. Have ONE spreadsheet where you keep all of this information. Be sure to write down everything – your blog dashboard, social media profiles, email marketing system, etc. You’ll be able to save time looking for what you need.
• Use a notebook to capture all of your ideas – Apart from your procedures and to do list notebook, you should create a space where you can write down all of your new ideas. Entrepreneurs have no problem generating great new ideas – but it’s far too easy to forget about them or allow them to distract you from your profit plan. Keeping your ideas in one spot will make it easy for you to refer back to those ideas often so you can actually implement them. Imagine how you can increase your profits when you start taking action on your great ideas?
• Use just ONE to-do list – If your daily task list is in 7 different spots, you’re going to feel distracted and scattered. Keep everything in one list – there are countless options, so just choose one and stick with it! Once you’ve picked the best option for you, commit to using this one system for your tasks and projects. Using a web based system will make it easy to delegate tasks to other people.
• Plan ahead with your content – Many entrepreneurs feel stuck with marketing because they aren’t sure what to do. Just start with one month – plan out what you’ll be doing in the upcoming month. Pick a date to publish each piece, plan out the theme for your content and jot down some ideas for your newsletter, blog posts or social media updates. When you sit down to write your marketing materials you’ll crank out your content quickly and easily.
• Create a Master Schedule Template – If you find yourself looking back at the end of the week and wondering where the time went, you need to implement this right away! Using a weekly calendar, you can designate blocks of time where you’ll work on certain aspects of your business. For example, reserve Monday from 9 am to 12 pm for marketing, 1 pm to 3 pm for writing, 3 pm to 5 pm for email management and so on. Start by inserting recurring tasks (like client meetings, marketing times, meeting with your coach, etc) and then designate other blocks of time for your other activities. Don’t leave your essential tasks to chance! Make a plan for when you’ll do them and you’ll boost your productivity.
• Set clear boundaries – Once you get this support system into place, you need to follow through and stick with it! Commit to yourself that you’ll honor what you’ve set out to do. Turn off email notifications and other distractions. Make sure that friends and family know when you’re available to chat. You can also create accountability for yourself by working with a coach or mentor to help you.

Marketing and growing your business isn’t impossible – but it does require planning and consistency to work. When you de-clutter your mind and organize your materials, you will be able to see the results you’ve been looking for and fully enjoy a successful business.

Which tip will you implement first? Please share your thoughts with me in the comments below!