If you want to get into a business you’re passionate about, (or if you know someone who does), if you’re unhappy with your job and want to exercise your right to make a difference…

You can start or grow your own business, wherever you are, with whatever you have, right now.

It’s called “Business Plan or BUST! A Comprehensive Tutorial for Starting and Growing Your Business.”

http://www.businessplan.riskbuster.com/

The author is my colleague Dan Boudreau, business plan expert, coach and trainer.

I believe Dan’s book will make the business planning process achievable and fun, and you can get started right away!

Dan’s roadmap offers you a clear, step-by-step path to proving or disproving your business case BEFORE you risk equity in a venture.

For more information and to view the entire FREE bonus gift offer, please go to

http://www.businessplan.riskbuster.com/

My colleague Dan Boudreau, a business plan expert, coach and trainer, is releasing a remarkable book that will help you take firm control of your business and financial future.

On November 18, 2008 there will be a special 24-hour Business Plan or BUST! Best Seller Book Campaign, including an extraordinary bonus gift package specifically assembled for curious and serious entrepreneurs.

If you or anyone you know are thinking about starting or growing a business, this special bonus gift package will bring you amazing value!

Check back here on November 18th as I will be sharing the link to get access to Dan’s great book and all the wonderful bonuses (I’ve included one too!).

There are 3 components that you need in your marketing framework:

1. a website
2. free giveaway and opt-in box
3. marketing tactics based on your core marketing strength

Let’s look at each of these in more depth:

The first component you absolutely need in your marketing framework is a website.  I’m sure you’ve heard this again and again, and are probably sick of hearing about it….but that’s because it is so important!

A website is crucial for building credibility, trust, a relationship with prospects and clients, and also as the key means for building your list.  This leads us into the second component you need in your marketing framework.

The second component is a free giveaway and an opt-in box.  These go hand-in-hand - you need to have an opt-in box on each page of your website that gives people access to a free giveaway in exchange for their name and email address.  This is the way you start capturing names and build a list of prospects that you can communicate with on a regular basis and build a relationship with them.

A free giveaway is a piece of valuable information that your prospective clients would find useful.  There are many different formats you can provide your free giveaway in:  a report, audio lesson, tips & tricks, a checklist, an audio recording and so on.

The third component that you need in your marketing framework is tactics built around your core marketing strength. 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 therefore do it quicker.

Once you figure out that, you will start to add marketing tactics that are built around that core strength of yours, and then grow from there.

So if you’re just starting out or you are not achieving the results that you want, take a look at your marketing framework.  Make sure you have these 3 components working smoothly and rest assured you’ve got a solid marketing base from which to go forward.

I talked in my last blog about having a marketing structure – especially if you’re a new business.

There are 3 main reasons why it’s important for you to have a marketing framework:

1. a marketing framework will ensure that you have the necessary building blocks to start marketing effectively and keep marketing
   

• we all need a place to start and figuring out your marketing framework will give you that place to confidently start marketing your business

2. a framework gives you the ability to make a plan of action
   

• in order to make a successful plan of action for marketing your small business, you need to have a starting point from which to build and start adding action steps that you need to take to keep your marketing momentum going

3. a marketing framework makes it easy to figure out which marketing strategies to add

• once you have the basics in place, it’s easier for you to add tactics that will work with and build upon the marketing tactics you already have in your marketing framework

You can see a theme running through these 3 reasons and it’s all about being systematic, consistent and building upon what you currently have.

When you start with a marketing framework and have the basic marketing building blocks in place, it makes marketing your business easier, faster and more enjoyable (because it’s less work and you have time to check out other exciting business and marketing opportunities).

Come back in a couple days and check out my next posting which will outline the 3 components that you need to have in your marketing framework.  See you soon!

I’m feeling a bit scattered - must be dipping too much into the Halloween candy!  I’m not sure why I buy it so early….all I do is eat it and then have to go out and buy more candy the actual day of Halloween!

I had to sit back, take a deep breath and look over my schedule for the next 3 weeks.  I was feeling overwhelmed and starting to feel anxious like I was letting things fall through the cracks.

When I took a look at my schedule I realized I was overwhelmed!  I had planned too many things in the space of 3 weeks. I was planning to launch my Ready Made Marketing Plans^TM but realized that I hadn’t allotted enough time to properly promote it:  write the press releases, write the emails to my list and get them set up in Aweber, write the sales page for my website, organize the bonuses I’m giving away, write the email for my JV partners to send to their list, and so on.

It sounds so easy when I say I’m going to launch my ebook, but when I break it down into each individual step and plot them into my schedule, I see that I don’t have enough time - with everything else I’ve got scheduled in the same time period.

So, I’m pushing my launch back a few weeks until December and now I can focus (and breathe easier) on the other 25 tasks I’ve got to get completed in the next 3 weeks!

Have a great marketing day!

Every business needs a marketing framework - but many new small businesses get confused about which steps they need to take first.

I define a marketing framework as the basic structure of your overall marketing action plan that also encompasses the core marketing strategies you need.

It’s like when you’re building a house (my Dad and brother are carpenters so I’ve seen a lot of houses being built!) and after you’ve poured the concrete for the base, you start framing…which means you start building the framework of the house with wood 2 X 4’s.

Once that framework is done, then the carpenters start filling in the wood framework with insulation, plywood, sheets of gyproc and so on.

Marketing your new business is the same way…you start with a marketing framework - the basics for marketing your business - and then you start building from there.

My next blog post will talk about the 3 main reasons why you need a marketing framework.

Stay tuned!

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.

In an earlier post I talked about consistency being key to your marketing success. I was talking about the definition of consistency as steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.

However, there is a second definition of consistency that is just as important for your marketing solutions. Consistency also means: agreement, harmony or compatibility, especially uniformity among the parts of a complex thing.

Why is this so important?

Because one of the mistakes I see small businesses make is that their marketing doesn’t have a unified theme or approach to it. Your marketing system can be quite complex in that it’s made up of several different parts. For example, there’s marketing tactics for building your list, getting referrals, gaining credibility as a speaker, doing follow-up, and so on and on!

For all the different parts of your marketing plan, there still needs to be a consistency that runs throughout it. You want to ensure that all your marketing communications and actions are in harmony and agreement with each other - that it is all working together.

What exactly does that mean?

Well, it means for starters that you have a clearly defined marketing message where you (and therefore your prospects and clients!) are specific and crystal-clear about who you are marketing to and what you can offer them.

Then you use your marketing message as the basis for all your communications: voicemail message, business card, brochure, website, ebooks, free reports, workshops, teleseminars and so on.

Being consistent in your marketing also means that you use marketing vehicles and tactics that complement and build on each other. There will always be opportunities that come up which are very interesting and cool. But before you spend the money to have an ad in that new magazine or the time to participate in an exciting workshop, make sure that it furthers your marketing and business goals. Is it aimed at your particular target group? Does it reflect the same kind of philosophy and image as you and your company?

When you have a consistent plan of action and a consistent message then your marketing strategies will be that more powerful and move you forward that much faster towards fulfilling your goals, projections and dreams.

Life is busy and our business keeps us hopping too. There is never enough time to get everything we want done and need to get done - and there never will be enough time!

That’s why it’s so important to schedule things and especially your marketing activities. If you’re a smart business person, you know that marketing is key to growing a wildly successful business. You’re actually in the business of marketing - that’s your prime role. If you don’t market, no-one knows about you and therefore your products and services won’t be moving off the shelves.

So you know that marketing is crucial and that it needs to be done consistently everyday. How the heck do you fit in all that you need to do?

The answer is you need to schedule EVERYTHING. You even need to schedule time to go over your schedule! Okay, okay, finish your groaning and keep reading.

Contrary to what you may have been told, schedules do not kill your creativity and your spontaneity. Schedules do not make your workday tedious and repetitive. Schedules are not a sign of a sick mind.

Schedules actually set you free to be more creative in your business, to pursue new and cool ideas, to have time to daydream and write and network and whatever else you want to do in your workday and life.

Creating marketing schedules will make your marketing run more smoothly, allow you to put it on auto-pilot, help you delegate many of the tasks, it ensures that nothing falls between the cracks, and that your marketing systems are consistent in attracting new clients and keeping current ones.

Those are some of the practical advantages to having a schedule. But I also believe that one of the most important effects of scheduling your activities is that you free up your mind to focus on new ideas and directions for your company, write new products, conceptualize exciting joint venture opportunities and so on. All those things that make having our own businesses so worth it!

By taking all those everyday details out of your head and putting them down on paper (i.e. scheduling them) you provide space in your head for working on your business, instead of in your business.

I encourage you take some time to work out a schedule for your everyday marketing activities. Look for future posts from me, where I’ll go into more detail about how to schedule your marketing.