It's Tuesday and your friend calls and says that he heard the best way to get publicity is pay-per-click. You drop everything and sign up for a Google Adwords account.



It's Wednesday and you heard that someone made a million dollars selling info products. Everything else waits while you work on your first million dollar product.

I once had a client who would tell me he figured out how to "fix" his business and what he needed to do to succeed. Unfortunately, he did this DAILY. Each day he had a new marketing strategy that he would drop everything else to implement. It was exhausting as well as counterproductive - for both of us.

Does this sound familiar? You have no real plan for your marketing strategy and so you jump from one idea to another based on what you hear or read is the best or quickest way to get more clients and increase sales.

Or, do you find yourself agreeing with colleagues who are constantly agonizing over this, that or the other in their business - all trying to outdo one another with the amount of work they have?

If so, you're suffering from marketing overwhelm!

I have good news however - this IS a curable disease. . .no shots necessary!

There are thousands of different things you could do to move your business forward. And, most likely, any one of them will do the job.

The problem. You start one thing, stop, start another, stop, start a third, stop. . . . At the end of the day, you're left with frustration and overwhelm. And nothing done, your list the same size (or smaller) than yesterday.

The solution. If you see a little of yourself in this scenario, it's time to create a strategic marketing action plan. One that resonates with you and that you can stick with.

Step 1: Create a marketing action plan -- make a list of the marketing activities you are interested in doing and then select the three to five which resonate most with you.

Step 2: Take action -- start implementing the activities on your plan and stick with them until they are done.

Step 3: Evaluate -- review what you've been doing and what results you're getting. If the results aren't what you were expecting, you may wish to try another strategy, but only AFTER you've given the first time to work.

It's important to remember that good marketing is about two things:

1/ educating your community (prospects made up of your ideal clients) about what problems you solve (note that I didn't say "about what you do") and

2/ building a relationship with those in your community.

Do these two things and do them consistently and you will reap the rewards as your business success lies not in hyperactivity, but in well-thought-out plans and implementation.

My Request to You

I request you take a step back and think about which marketing activities you've had the most success with or, if you're a new business owner, which ones appeal to you the most. Now jot them down and add some dates by which you will complete them (if one time activities) or begin them (if ones to be done consistently).

POOF! You have the beginnings of a strategic marketing action plan. You're well on your way to recovery!

And if you're feeling too overwhelmed to begin? You'll want to learn more about "Strategic Marketing - Sandy Style and having a customized strategic marketing action plan "done 4 you".