90 percent of small business owners do not have a marketing plan, yet most know that it takes seven to 10 impressions to make an impact and inspire a prospect to take action. Repetition is critical, but what is the best way to proceed?



The surefire way to ensure success is to pre-determine your marketing and the action required to reach seven to 10 impressions. Here are 7 strategies to focus your efforts:

1. Be remarkable. Identify your goals, your strengths, and your target audience. Define ONE quality that sets you apart from your competition and turns your customers into loyalists buying from you again and again. What are you willing to stake a claim on? Focus on that ONE remarkable quality, develop a clear, consistent marketing message, and repeat that ONE marketing message in everything you do. If you repeatedly launch new marketing messages, you are starting all over each time and will be spinning your wheels for naught.

2. Maximize word of mouth. When you have a business identity or brand that inspires, fascinates, engages and rewards customers and employees, you are going to be talked about. There is no denying that the opinions of trusted family and friends play a key role in influencing the purchase behavior of others. Can you come up with a creative campaign that will get lots of people talking? Are you encouraging referrals? Do you have testimonials in your print, web and on-site displays that reflect the ONE remarkable quality that is the basis of your business and marketing?

3. Free Media. There's a great big world of media available online and off, and a lot of it is free. If you provide newsworthy information, your news releases will be published or aired. So what's your hook? Are you launching a new event, releasing a new book or announcing a new program? Is there newsworthy information to highlight about you, an employee or a customer? Think big, develop a hook, and reinforce your ONE marketing message along with the who, what, when, where and why of your news release. Distribute online and off.

4. Knock Your Socks-Off Service. Be sure you and your employees are delivering unbelievably great service under every circumstance. Answering the phone with enthusiasm, putting paperwork on the back burner to assist a customer, and listening to each customer should be a no-brainer, but sometimes a hectic day puts good intentions on hold. Focus on your ONE remarkable quality and give customers knock-your-socks-off service. They'll likely have something very good to say about you to others.

5. Get in the Limelight. One of the best ways to spread your ONE marketing message is to speak to organizations, associations, clubs, and radio audiences. Keep in mind that Rotary Clubs, local business groups, school foundations, radio networks and other organizations are always looking for program ideas. Make their job easy by offering your expertise. Determine where your target audience spends his/her time, select an organization that's a good fit, contact the program coordinator, and offer a presentation targeted to the audience. You'll be positioning yourself as an expert while reaching new prospects.

6. Collaborate. Also called fusion marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson, the Father of Guerrilla Marketing, collaboration is a tool that many small business owners overlook. Yet research shows that working with others increases productivity, motivation and results. Collaborations combine the efforts of two or more entities to explode joint marketing efforts. The keys: Identify potential collaborations, determine what each of you brings to the table, and create a win-win situation where you can shout out your ONE marketing message.

7. Hire a marketing coach. If you are stuck, it may be that you are overwhelmed, at "a fork in the road" and unsure of your next step. Enlist support. Hire a professional coach and consultant to help you redefine your unmistakable brand identity, your ONE marketing message, and action steps to ensure success.

While there are many more ways to guarantee you will make an impact, these seven strategies will get you started with a solid foundation for strengthening your ONE marketing message. Be sure to put it all on paper so you have a map guiding your efforts and ensuring that you focus on the ONE quality that sets you apart from your competition and makes you truly remarkable in the eyes of your customers and prospects. Be consistent. Be clear. Be ready to skyrocket results.