Many small business owners dislike marketing and do it grudgingly, even though we know it’s absolutely key to having any success.

There are many reasons why people seem to procrastinate with their marketing:  they don’t really understand the tactic or strategy they are using, they don’t feel comfortable doing it, or they can’t figure out which marketing strategies to use.

What I’ve found to really work when trying to figure out which tactics to use - especially when you’re just starting out with your business - is to determine what your core marketing strength is.

There are 3 main areas that most marketing tactics fall under:  writing, speaking and networking.

All of us are usually stronger in one of these areas, we enjoy one area more, or it comes easier and we can do it quicker than the other two areas.

Why wouldn’t you go ahead and take advantage of that and do marketing strategies that you are good at and actually enjoy doing!  Don’t you think that will right off the bat make marketing more enjoyable and easier to do?

I’ll talk in my next post more about core marketing strength.  Please check back in!

Here are the last 3 components that you need to ensure that your follow-up marketing strategies are as effective and efficient as possible for you.

Follow up needs to be automated

Try to automate your follow-up marketing as much as you can.  All of us are busy and the more we can systematize our marketing, the easier and quicker we can start reaping the rewards.

Luckily there is an abundance of tools and people you can use to simplify and automate your follow-up activities - from autoresponders to full contact management systems to Virtual Assistants.

An example of automating your follow-up marketing would be a shopping cart program that sends out automatic emails in a series after someone purchases your product, or a company that formats and sends out your ezine, or a VA who produces and sends out electronic greeting and thank you cards for you.

Follow up needs reliable data

To take advantage of many of the ways to follow up with your prospects and clients, you need to have a system in place that captures information about people and keeps track of interactions and communications you have with everyone.

Use software such as Aweber and 1Shopping Cart to gather and store information like client’s birthdays, business anniversary dates, purchasing information, emails that were sent, and so on.

Follow up needs to have varied delivery methods

Keep your follow-up marketing interesting and keep people intrigued by using different methods of delivery.  Incorporate email, telephone, direct mail, audio and so on, to provide variety in how you connect with people and grab their attention.

By varying the way you communicate and follow up with people, you’re showing that you are creative and interested in talking to them in different ways.  It shows commitment on your part and an understanding that freshness and variety is key in making a business relationship strong.

Take a look at how you are implementing your follow-up marketing tactics - are you using all 8 components (as outlined in the last 3 blog postings)?  If not, take some time today to see how you can make your follow-up marketing run as quickly, easily and profitably as possible.

There are 8 components that will help you make the most of your follow-up marketing strategies and ensure they are as effective as possible.  Here are 3 more of the components you need to pay attention to.

Follow up needs to be consistent

Not only does follow up need to be frequent, it needs to be consistent.

As with any marketing strategy you choose to do, if you do not do it on a regular basis and do it haphazardly, then that’s what you’ll get in return - haphazard results.

Remember that marketing (including follow up) is about building a relationship and if people hear from you a couple times and then not for a few months, they’re not going to get a warm, fuzzy feeling about you.  Consistently following up shows people that you value them, are reliable and committed to providing a service to them.

Follow up needs to build momentum

Frequency and consistency with follow-up marketing allows for momentum to occur.  I define momentum in marketing as each strategy and communication builds on each other and is linked together.

For example, you might start your second email by saying, “8 days ago I sent you an email…”   Or after they’ve purchased a product or downloaded an ebook, send them a handful of emails that highlight something specific about the product or in the report that can help them.

Referencing the previous communication links what you’re saying with what you’ve already said, and reminds your prospect that you care enough to continue the conversation.

Follow up needs to be organized

To ensure that your follow-up marketing is consistent, you need to organize it by putting it in your calendar and on your to-do list.

When you carve out time in your daily and weekly schedule for follow-up activities, then you go a long way towards actually doing them!  How many of us get things done that we haven’t made time for?  Not very many of us I’ll bet!

So put a half-hour aside each Friday to write some thank you notes, and schedule an hour each Monday to write your weekly ezine, and an hour every second Wednesday to write a new email message to send to your list.

There are 8 components that will help you make the most of your follow-up marketing strategies and ensure they are as effective as possible.  Over the next few blogs I will talk about these components in detail.

Pay attention to these different components because they will help you to systematize your follow-up activities so that you can find the time to do them - quickly and easily.

Follow up needs to be timely

Always follow-up sooner rather than later. For every day you wait, you lessen the impact of the follow-up communication.

For follow-up strategies such as acknowledging referrals, testimonials, new acquaintances, new business and so on, do you best to follow up in one or two days.

Obviously, for follow-up activities that are centered around specific dates (birthdays, end of promotion, workshop sign-up, program enrollment) the follow up needs to occur on the actual day.  It doesn’t do much for your credibility to send out Christmas cards in February!

Follow up needs to be frequent

We already talked about people needing to hear your message a certain number of times before they’ll notice or act upon it.  That’s why in order for your follow-up to have any effect, it needs to be frequent.

The frequency and amount of follow-up needed depends on the reason and method for your follow-up.    For example, if you are following up regarding an upcoming teleseminar, you may be contacting your list a total of 5 times over the two weeks leading up to and including the date of the teleseminar.

Or if you’re following up after someone has downloaded your free giveaway, you may have 20 follow-up emails in your autoresponder sequence that go out over a six month period to them.

Don’t be afraid of following up too frequently.  And remember to always provide a way for them to remove themselves from the conversation (virtual or other) you’ve started with them.

As small business owners it’s easy to fall into the habit of believing you’re too busy to market.  However, this is like saying that you’re too busy to invest in your ongoing success.

Here are 7 simple and quick marketing actions that you can add to your marketing framework right now:

• schedule a marketing appointment with yourself to evaluate and track your marketing activities, research new opportunities, tweak your sales goals, write an article or blog post, conduct a client survey, and so on
• call up a client and ask for a testimonial
• sign up for your next networking event
• make a useful comment on someone’s blog
• call a program chairperson about setting up a speaking engagement at an organization you’re interested in
• email a potential referral source to set up a meeting
• jot down an outline for your newsletter or ezine content

Remember that marketing doesn’t have to be arduous and there are lots of smaller tactics that you can do on a daily basis to keep connecting with your prospects and clients.

I believe that marketing is connecting with people and forming a relationship, and connecting on a consistent basis.

Having said that, is there an actual process for fostering this relationship? My experience has taught me that yes, there is definitely a marketing process.

People are strangers and do not know you and you do not know them. You need to “introduce” yourself to people in order to get the relationship started.

There are various ways to do this: speaking at community or business venues, sending out an Introduction letter, having a free giveaway on your website. With any of your “introductory” marketing strategies you want to give people an opportunity to find out more about you.

For example, at the end of the seminar you have a sign-up sheet for people to put their name and email address and you’ll send them a copy of the presentation or 10 Tips and Tricks. The back of your business card may ask them to go onto your website and in exchange for their name and email address you’ll send them a copy of your free audio mini-class.

Of course it goes without saying that you want to be providing valuable information with your free reports or Tips booklets. This is how people will start trusting you and getting to know you.

If you always provide information they need that can help them, then they start trusting you. The more they get to know you via your authentic marketing message contained in all your communications with them, the more they feel they know you.

When people sign up for your newsletter or send in a query via your website, this is the beginning of a mutual relationship. They have made an overture in your direction, in response to your introductory marketing tactics and materials. They have shown that they are interested in finding out more about you.

You can now put them on your list and start sending follow-up emails - again always offering valuable information to them and focusing on their needs.

You may invite them to a free or paid teleseminar that you are hosting. You can send them an interesting article or share details of your affiliate’s upcoming seminar that they might want to find out more about. You can let them know about the upcoming release of your ebook, and any special promotions you may be having.

Make sure you always give them clear information about how to contact you but don’t pressure them into any action. Remember, your aim is to start and nurture a relationship with these people.

By providing good, usable, interesting information to them, you gain their respect and trust. Each follow-up brings them closer to the next step - which is purchasing your services and products. If you’ve done your job properly then they are eager to take it to the next level - to do business with you.

So you see, there is definitely a process for marketing and creating lasting and mutually profitable relationships with your clients and customers. AND the good news is that this process is easily duplicated and implemented…what are you waiting for?!

I talked in my last blog post about the importance your marketing mindset/attitude has on your success. Whether your mindset about marketing is negative, positive, or most likely a little of both, I’ve found that an “adjustment” is essential every now and then.

Many of us feel that we have a “good enough” attitude towards marketing and selling our services and ourselves. However, take a look at some of the following statements and see how many have crossed your mind or passed your lips:

• I’m not smart enough to learn that
• My business isn’t very special
• Who am I to think people will want to listen to me
• I won’t be able to figure it out
• I doubt that I’ll be a very big success
• It’s too hard to market
• I don’t think I’m going to make enough money
• I’m not a good enough speaker, writer (fill in the blank)
• People won’t like my offerings
• I don’t want to be a pest
• There are already people doing this and they’re better than me
• I can’t sell
• There isn’t enough time to market

Some of these thoughts aren’t necessarily specifically about marketing, but they can still affect how we view marketing and perform marketing tasks.

The cause of negative beliefs can come from different directions: other people’s opinions and actions, a bad experience, the media, and so on. It doesn’t really matter where or how these beliefs originated.

What is important is that you learn to recognize when you’re thinking a limiting belief about yourself, your services, your products or your business. You need to realize that this is affecting your willingness and ability to market.

Try using positive affirmations and replacing negative thoughts with positive ones.

It really doesn’t matter what your past conditioning and experiences are, or even how understandable your issues with promoting yourself are. You need to ensure that what you think and say about marketing is positive and supportive of yourself and your vision - or you’re going to have difficulty making your business a success.

Your mindset, or attitude, towards marketing has a direct impact on:

• your satisfaction with your business
• the number of clients you find and keep
• the quality and quantity of the products and services you offer
• your sales - your bottom line
• how fast your products “fly off the shelf”
• how prospective customers and current clients view you, your business and your products and services
• whether you meet your sales targets and objectives
• your personal growth and lifestyle
• your opportunities for having affiliate and joint venture partners
• how fast you grow and your company grows

This list could actually go on and on, because marketing is really the lifeblood of your business and anything you do connected with your business. You can even go as far as to say that marketing is actually what you do - you’re not a chiropractor or a caterer or a virtual assistant, you are really a marketer.

So how you view marketing - your marketing mindset - is key to how you actually market.

Stop a minute and think about what kind of views you’re carrying around in your head about marketing. If they are mainly negative, think about ways you can turn that not-so-great marketing mindset around so that it helps you - and doesn’t hurt the success of you and your business.

Drop me a line and let me know what is your #1 negative attitude about marketing.

Systems are important in so many ways:

• they allow you to accomplish things
• they help you actually do your marketing plan
• they make marketing easier, faster and less work
• they help you focus
• they help you put many tasks on auto-pilot
• they aid you in delegating and out-sourcing work
• they provide a framework or road map
• they allow you to get things done quicker and therefore see results quicker
• they allow you to stay on track and not get detoured by every nifty idea that flies in front of you or that you come up with
• they make sure nothing falls through the cracks and you don’t miss out on money or opportunities

I encourage you to take a look at your mindset towards systems and especially marketing systems. Lots of us small business owners view systems as a straight-jacket on our creativity and dreams. But actually, systems will help pave the road to achieving all that you want to, and let’s face, need to.

Start looking at ways that you can systematize your business and start reaping the freedom faster than you thought possible!

You’ve heard me say over and over again that the key to marketing is to take consistent action. One of the necessary components you need to ensure you take consistent action is a system (or several systems).

What exactly is a system? There are several definitions but the ones that resonate with me are:

1. A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole.

A marketing system is made up of individual steps and tactics that build on each other and form a complete process that enables you to find and keep your most profitable clients.

2. An organized and coordinated method; a procedure.

A marketing system is not put together haphazardly with the “latest and greatest” marketing fad. It is carefully built based on you and your businesses personality, goals, offerings, desires and dreams. It is organized around your time and resources and all works towards the same end result (i.e. your marketing message aimed at your target group)

3. A condition of harmonious, orderly interaction.

Ahhh, doesn’t that sound lovely? A harmonious and orderly day where everything that needs to get done, does…and there’s lots of time left over to daydream, create new things, have fun, live your work (and personal) life to the fullest.

Stay tuned for my next blog post that will talk about what having systems will actually do for you.