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Are You
Marketing to Your Potential? | |
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Many small business owners struggle to grow their businesses. As your
business becomes more complex and time consuming, it can become increasingly
difficult to define and implement a marketing strategy that helps you
achieve your business potential.
By Charlie Cook
Contributing Writer
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Many small business owners struggle to grow their businesses only to find
themselves stuck in a morass of marketing, management and delivery tasks. As
your business becomes more complex and time consuming, the original vision
of the business usually changes or gets lost, and it can become increasingly
difficult to define and implement a marketing strategy that helps you
achieve your business potential.
(article continued below ...)
As a marketing coach I have many small business clients whose marketing
is going nowhere because they haven't clearly identified where they want to
take their business/what they want their business to be/ and what role they
want to play in it.
Whether you want to take your business to the next level or are just
starting out, to be more successful at marketing you need to regularly
clarify what you want your business to be and what your role in it is or
should be. In order to develop a marketing strategy and plan that works for
you, you need to first clarify:
- What are your business passions and strengths
- How do you want to spend your time
- What work tasks you enjoy
- What type of business you want to create
Define Your Business Passions and Strength.
The energy, determination and persistence it takes to build a business only
makes sense if you are doing something you love - or that at least gives you
great satisfaction. What do you enjoy doing the most? What are you happy
doing day in and day out?
What are your Strengths? Identify your business passion, and then examine
your strengths within that passion. How can you leverage your interest and
knowledge to become a sought after expert in your field?
Say you love skiing and want to make a living in that industry, which you
know well. Are you going to run a ski shop, be a ski instructor, or become a
skiing guru, sought after by thousands, with your simple and innovate
teaching techniques?
Which aspects of your passion suit your expertise and experience? How can
you build a business around them?
Set Goals for How You Want to Spend Your Time.
Personality and interests vary. Some small business owners have a passion
for hands on delivery, others enjoy focusing on growing their business and
coordinating the delivery of products and services.
Some can't stand being stuck in an office all day; others would prefer
never to talk to a client or customer. What aspects of your business are you
good at and which do you want to develop further?
Use the following questions to help you clarify how you want to spend
your week.
- Do you like being in charge of marketing, operations or service
delivery?
- Are you an educator, do you love sharing what you know or do you
like inventing new products people can use without your involvement? Or
both?
- Do you prefer managing the business and delegating daily tasks to
others?
- Do you like to travel or prefer to work from an office or at home?
- How important is flexibility in scheduling and work location?
- Do you want to work less and earn the same?
- Do you want to work part time or do you love your work so much that
you could do it seven days a week?
- Do you want to structure your work so it is more satisfying?
Clarify the Tasks You Enjoy .
We all like and dislike specific activities, excel at some and are better
off delegating certain tasks to others. Clarifying what you like and dislike
is essential to then defining the strategies and structures you need to
create a more satisfying work environment.
- Do you enjoy coming up with
new products?
- Do you enjoy selling your
services and products?
- Do you like to write or
prefer public speaking? Or both?
- Is the phone your
communication tool of preference?
- Do you prefer to use email
for most of your communication?
- Do you enjoy public speaking
and sharing your ideas?
- Do you enjoy following up
with employees to make sure they've done agreed on tasks?
Specify the Type of Business You Want to Create.
What have the answers to the questions above told you about your business
and your role in it? Depending on the services and products you provide,
does your business need additional staff, facilities, technology, geographic
presence, or capital?
- Would you prefer to be a successful one person business/sole
proprietor?
- Would you like to grow your business to include five to fifty
employees?
- Will profit or passion be the driving force? Or both?
- Are your markets local, regional, national or international?
Answer these questions to define your business goals and your role in
your business' growth. Once you have a clear and current idea of where you
are going, you can define a marketing strategy to get there, to achieve your
business potential.
2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. - The author,
Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent professionals and small
business owners attract more clients and be more successful with the 5
Principles of Highly Effective Marketing. Sign up to receive the Free
Marketing Guide and the 'More Business' newsletter, full of practical tips
you can use at
http://www.charliecook.net
February 2, 2004
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