According to most successful marketers, those that write down their goals are more likely to succeed than those that do not. Whether success is from the actual 'writing' of goals or simply 'having' goals is not clear. But what is clear is that 'setting' a goal is a key component of success.

Most would not set out to reach a destination without goals much the same one would not plan a trip without a map. Create a set of goals and a system [plan] to follow and use it.

Set your goals and establish a plan. If you are marketing on the Internet your website can be a key tool. Decide how you are going to use this sales tool to your benefit.

It is said that, on average, we are exposed to 3000 advertisements a day. It is also said that 90% of this advertising is forgotten in 72 hours. So your first goal is to create an identity that will make an impact first time out. If this can be accomplished you are ahead in the game.

We are living in the 'information age' where the hunger for information should be embraced. The explosive growth of the Internet is a powerful reinforcement to the fact that content really is king. The majority of people will tend to ignore advertising but continually seek news and knowledge. Use the Internet to your advantage by packaging with good content.

The intention is to increase the opportunity for success of every business promotion with the aim of giving the consumer an advertising piece that is memorable.

Your strategy for a Marketing Miracle:

Goals:

Set your goals - what is the end result of your marketing?

Is it to sell 1000 widgets?

Research:

Define your market - who are you trying to reach?

Define the method - how are you going to reach your market?

Plan/Organize:

Find the best ways to reach your identified target audience.

Then choose the best methods to reach your targeted market.

By not doing so you are liable to spend a lot of money advertising in all the wrong places.

Lay out your plan in a manner that will provide best results

Test:

Test your plan and track your advertisements and promotions.

See what is successful.

Depending on your testing results you may need to make revisions.

Market:

Below are places that will expose your marketing plan and promotion to the masses.

Articles or Press Release Submissions - By writing articles and submitting them to ezines and newsletter editors, for inclusion as a feature article in their ezine/newsletter. You will be able to end the article with a "byline" or "resource box" which is a few sentences about your online business, and with a hotlink to your site. There are tens of thousands of PR outlets if your article gets included in just a handful of these article submission sites; you could find your article in front of a few hundred thousand readers!

Local/Regional Directory and Portal Submissions - If you have a local business, submit to local/regional directories.

Classified Ad Submissions - We Place bulk purchased low-cost ads in various online and offline newspapers and magazines which reach your target prospects.

Targeted E-mail - Send email to permission or targeted opt-in lists. ("permission marketing") We can reach thousands a day with this method.

Submit a National Press Release - A press release can be an effective way to get traffic to your site. We can post it over 40,000 contacts.

Post to NewsGroups - Find newsgroups related to your industry, or that your target audience would be reading. Then make some intelligent posts, contributing to the ongoing discussion(s). If done correctly, newsgroup postings can bring you a great deal of traffic.

SafeList Advertising - You can join safe-lists, or pay a service to place safe-lists ads and advertising for you. Many do read the emails, especially if the subject line grabs them. They often check their safe-list email to verify that their own message has been properly sent. When doing so they often check out other interesting safe-list emails.

Follow-up Email Campaign - Virtually every pro marketer uses this powerful technique. Use automatic follow-up autoresponders to email a series of sales messages to your prospects, on preset days or intervals.

PPC Search Engine Listings - Use PPC to really target your market. Keywords will capture those interested in your product and deliver them to your door.

Don't sit by and wait for all your planning and efforts to flow without monitoring:

Send Additional Press Releases - Stay in front of the media. If possible send out approximately one press release per month.

Place Additional Ads - Once you have developed a winning promotion find additional ad space that will target your prospects. Increase your advertising results by gradually advertising in publications with larger and larger circulations. Always continue to measure your advertising effectiveness.

More Targeted E-mail – Once you have determined that targeted emailing is working for you multiply your efforts and do double, triple, or even ten times the amount of mailing.

Consider Joint Venture (B2B) Marketing - Setup JVs (joint ventures) with other marketers and businesses.

Consider a weblog and RSS feeds.

So we ask the question again, Marketing Miracles - Do they just happen? If you have followed the basic guidelines of successful marketing you can now answer that yourself.