Here are the major take aways:     

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!

Would you like to save time on marketing and get better results?

Do you desire to become a recognized expert in your field?

You can do all this and more when you build your business by referral. If you ask for and encourage referrals, you’ll be able to fill your practice with ideal clients who need the exact solutions that you offer.

By taking the time to figure out exactly what type of clients you’re looking for and how to ask for it, you’ll have a much better success rate with attracting referrals and you’ll see your business grow by leaps and bounds. Follow these three simple steps to ask for and encourage referrals from your current clients and contacts:

1. Decide what you’re looking for.  If you don’t have an ideal client profile in mind, it’s time to create one. Your ideal client profile should detail the qualities, attributes and needs of the exact type of person that you want to work with. Take some time to get clear on EXACTLY who you want to work with and what problems they are experiencing that you can help with. Getting clear on this before you start asking for referrals will make it easy for you to explain to your referral partners what kind of leads you are looking for. It will also help your clients and contacts to prequalify the referrals for you.
2. Time your referral requests just right. The best time to ask for a referral is when a client has commented on the quality of your work. Graciously thank them for their feedback and then ask “Who else do you know who is look for [SOLUTIONS CLIENT HAS ENJOYED]?” As they brainstorm who they can introduce to you, listen carefully to the contacts they have in mind. Be sure to explain simply how they can best introduce their contact, both so the individual is comfortable and so you can effectively follow-up on the lead.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask! Many service providers stop themselves from asking for referrals because they are intimidated. But honestly, you have nothing to be afraid of. If you’ve been doing a stellar job for the client, it’s completely acceptable for you to ask for a referral. And what’s the worst they could say? “Probably, I’ll keep that in mind.” That is a good thing! The only thing you have to lose is the opportunity to be of service to a new client and increase your income.

In addition to asking your existing clients, let your contacts, family and friends know that you’re open to referrals as well. Use the same steps outlined above to educate them about what solutions you offer. They may know  someone who is struggling with the exact problems you solve. By arming them with information about your business, they’ll be able to recognize people who need your services.

Many seasoned entrepreneurs have grown their business strictly by referral. If you like, you can be one of them. As with all effective marketing, creating the desired result, it simply takes focused, consistent effort on your part. By making it clear who you serve and what you do for them, you empower your clients and contacts to make referrals that will be beneficial to you and the people that they refer as well.

What type of referrals are you looking for in your business? Share your thoughts below and allow others in the Smart Simple Marketing community to support your efforts to grow your business.

1. If you don’t have an ideal client profile mapped out, now is the time to do it! Take some time to think about exactly who you want to work with and why. Describe their characteristics, the type of problems that they are experiencing and how you can help.
2. Look for opportunities to ask for referrals. When you’ve completed a project or your client has given you a compliment on something, it’s time to ask who else they know that would benefit from your services.
3. Push your fears aside! It’s perfectly okay to ask your clients who else they know that would be a good match.
4. Educate friends and family about what you do so they know what to look for as well. You never know who they might know.

After I completed my analysis, I found the statistics fascinating:

• 27% of my clients came from FREE Teleseminars I'd hosted or participated in
• 25% came from Online Marketing
• 19% came from Referrals
• 15% came from Networking

The other three areas, speaking (live), webinars and social media all yielded results of less than 10% of my overall client base.

What does this tell me? Exactly where I should be focusing my efforts! Based on the numbers, I should focus my time, energy and resources on the four strategies that yield the greatest return. I should refine my messaging so that it's more appealing and relevant when I am hosting free calls, marketing on the web, encouraging referrals and networking.

What does this have to do with you? That you should do the exact same thing. Set aside an hour to review your client list over the past 12-18 months. If you haven't had a lot of clients, review your prospects list (those who were interested in your offerings but for whatever reason didn't convert) and see where they REALLY came from.  You may be surprised by what the numbers show and now see a clear path as to where you should focus your attention.

With the myriad of marketing options available to us as service professionals these days, it's easy to become overwhelmed. That makes it very hard for us to make a decision about what we should be doing to grow our businesses. So, one easy way to move past the overwhelm is to stop, analyze what's working vs. what's not working and re-group to just focus on the activities that make sense for your business.

I'd love to hear what you discover about your marketing efforts from completing this exercise. What does your analysis show that YOU should be focusing on? Do tell by posting your comments below.