Marketing your business serves ONE key purpose: creating awareness for the work you do and attracting ideal prospects who are looking for what you offer. With the dizzying array of marketing strategies available to you, it’s easy to think you have to do 92 different things to get results. Such is not the case. All you really need to do is this:
PLAN ~ Sure, you could approach your marketing haphazardly and in a disorganized fashion. However, you’ll find your efforts to be more fruitful and less stressful if you plan in advance what exactly you’re going to do to achieve your goal. That doesn’t mean you need to take off a week, hole up in your office and create a 50-page plan! Make this easy on yourself and keep things simple. Start your plan by asking yourself the following questions:
| 1. | What have I accomplished in my business within the past 6 months? |
| 2. | What opportunities do I currently have in front of me? |
| 3. | What would I like to accomplish within the next 3 months? |
The answers to these questions dictate what your next move should be. Ideally you want to focus on the “low hanging fruit.” These are the opportunities that are right within reach and require just a bit of effort. You’ll want to outline, step by step, what you’ll do to take advantage of those and get your new IDEAL clients in the door.
Keep in mind you’re focusing on IDEAL CLIENTS; not every living, breathing human who possesses a credit card. Focus on the individuals you can do your best work with and plan your activities accordingly.
DO ~ This is the step that moves you from the drawing board to the playing field. The plan that you drew up for your business is now “LIVE.” Now it is time to ‘do or die,’ ‘sink or swim,’ let the ‘rubber meet the road,’ or whatever cliché you can think of that helps you to get things done!
There is no substitute for taking action on the plan that you have created. Many times the first step won’t be perfect. That’s OK. It doesn’t need to be!
Don’t waste time or stand in your own way waiting to get all your “ducks in a row.” Simply focus on the ONE step you need to take right now.
Do you need to organize the stack of business cards you collected from that networking event last week? Perhaps you need to submit a proposal to that big client who’s expressed an interest in working with you. Do you simply need to say YES to that speaking engagement that puts you in a room full of ideal prospects?
Start taking action NOW! You don’t have to know all the steps. You don’t need to wait until you learn a new piece of software. It doesn’t matter if you have an old phone number on your business card. (Though, you do need to get that fixed!) Taking the first step will put your plan in motion and allow you to start making progress. Next, you’ll want to…
REVIEW ~ That’s right! After a few weeks, consider the results of your hard work. How are you doing with the goals you set for yourself? Do you need to pick up the pace? Are you ahead of schedule? Reviewing and measuring your results will enable you to make adjustments based on REAL data instead of assumptions and fears. If you do need to make some adjustments, don’t beat yourself up over it. Embrace it and get excited about the fact that you’ve made progress and are working towards the results you want to enjoy in your business.
These 3 activities, when applied to your marketing and client attraction efforts, WILL set you up for growth and a more profitable business. You don’t need more learning. You need more DOING. You’ll gain the most valuable lessons as a result of the action you take.
So, do not be paralyzed by perfectionism. As long as you take consistent (even if imperfect) action, you will step closer to the goals and dreams that you have established for your company.
I’ll be delving into these topics more in an upcoming webinar presentation on “The 5 Crucial Steps to Attracting More Ideal Clients in Today’s Marketplace!” If you’d like VIP notification for this FREE training, just let me know.
Your Action Plan For This Week:
| 1. | Plan for the next 90-days that includes:
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| 2. | Use your calendar to schedule your marketing activity. |
| 3. | Review weekly what you have accomplished. |
| 4. | Review monthly how well your strategy is working. |
| 5. | Make adjustments at the end of the 90-day period. |
