- What's more important - a focused marketing plan or consistent marketing activity?
- Do I need to change my marketing strategy?
- What should I be doing more of - and less of - to get more clients?
- How do I know the kind of marketing that will work for what I offer?
- How can I stop spinning my wheels and do a FEW simple things consistently to generate leads, prospects and sales?
Here's my answer in very sophisticated and technical marketing lingo:
"Wow... I dunno."
Now before you dismiss me as a complete marketing moron, let me put that insightful statement into some context for you.
If you don't know who you're marketing to, what they want, what they're willing to pay for, and how to position yourself as the "Ah - at last!!" solution they've been looking for, then these questions will merely:
- Confuse you
- Scare you
- Piss you off
And it's hard to be a successful entrepreneur when you're running around confused, scared and pissed off all the time.
So stop it.
The first thing you need to decide is - which do YOU need more of? A new master plan (More THINKING)? Or some healthy ass-kicking to IMPLEMENT (More DOING) what you ALREADY know you need to do?
My advice? Follow the Teddy Roosevelt principle of "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
That means you need to STOP GETTING READY TO GET READY until...
- You get your next professional certification...
- You finish writing your book...
- Your kids are a little older...
- You build your updated website...
- You have a few more clients...
- You start making more money...
Hello?
Can you SMELL the stinky pile of rotten excuses suffocating you with their disgusting stench?
DO YOU NEED A ROCK SOLID MARKETING/BUSINESS STRATEGY?
The short answer is a screaming YES with racing stripes and flames coming out the tailpipes.
Do you need a 60-page marketing/business plan with charts and graphs and financial projections for the next 5 years? No you do not.
You need some flip charts, markers, paper, plenty of wall space and at least an hour to map out:
- Your business and marketing objectives and strategies
- Your current and future revenue streams
- Your thought leadership strategies (speaking, publishing, social media)
- Your business systems and processes
- Your current and future staffing and outsourcing game plan
- Simple templates and scripts to operationalize your plan
- Your pricing structure including new ways to monetize your expertise
- Your marketing action plan with daily, weekly and monthly tasks
I do this with my clients all the time - it's called a VIP Coaching Day and the process and the output look something like the flipcharts and action notes you'll see smack in the middle of this page.
DO YOU NEED TO FOCUS ON AND EXECUTE YOUR ACTION ITEMS?
The short answer is a screaming YES with racing stripes and flames coming out the tailpipes.
Do you need a 1,000% laser focus with a non-stop implementation mindset? No you do not. That's not realistic and it's never going to happen.
You need a calendar, just a little bit of focus, some serious accountability for a short period of time, and your to-do list (which probably contains some long-overdue "big ideas" which you've simply never gotten around to doing even though they might be the exact things you need to FINISH so that you get out of your rut, find your groove and grow your business significantly!)
What kinds of to-do items might you tackle on such a focused day of implementation?
- Rewrite the home page of your website
- Record a series of videos or audios that showcase your services
- Do some writing to better articulate your fabulousness
- Create a few simple tools to help you generate more leads
- Clean up your office or empty your inbox to streamline your daily work
- Develop (or refresh) your consulting or service/project offerings
- Optimize your social media profiles so that more prospects find (and contact!) you
- Draft the outline for your book, product, or signature program
- Map out your proactive referral and networking strategy (who, what, where, when)
Good news: You have just such an opportunity coming up later this month. It's called a DO IT! DAY and you can find out more about it here. Sign up and I'd be honored to do a little ass-kicking with YOU over a single focused day... and cheer you on as you cross the finish line on what YOU need to get done.
What do you think? Use the COMMENTS area below to talk about your experiences with strategy vs. implementation for YOUR business...
