Are you spending your dollars wisely or hap hazzardly to which ever sales rep walks in the door each day?

Do you have an actual marketing plan? These are some of the questions you want to be asking yourself AND THEN - figure out how to fix this so you are making SMART MARKETING DECISIONS.

If you're like most small business owners, you get so busy working IN your business that when it's busy, you don't concentrate much on marketing and advertising. In fact many clients I've spoken with have said they often tell their advertising sales reps "just run the same ad as last month" when they call for new ad copy. They do this because they don't have time to think of what to do next.

But if you PLAN out your ads ahead of time, making sure your headlines, offers and messages are timely AND that they accurately and effectively will make your target market take notice and act on your ad then they will be much more effective and give you better results.

Or when you have clients you don't make time to market for new ones until those ones are gone; then you wonder "where did they all go? I'd better do some marketing". This isn't smart marketing either because then you'll be so desperate to get new clients you'll do anything and quick!

Preparing a marketing plan is your first step. You might need to conduct some market research to determine who your ideal client is, what their needs are, how you can meet their needs, where you can find them, how you will reach them, and the daily activities you need to do to keep your funnel full. If you know the answers to these questions then you're ahead of the game (BUT ONLY AS LONG AS YOU ARE REALISTIC WITH THOSE ANSWERS). Some of these activities may include networking, speaking, advertising, seminars, teleclasses, and e-zines. All of these are active forms of marketing that take your time, unless you can delegate some of the activities or automate them. Here are just a few general suggestions to consider when developing your marketing funnel (funnel = your database and people you will be continually marketing to):

- Make sure and do at least one marketing activity each day.

- Set specific marketing & money goals each year; review and adjust quarterly.

- Always be brainstorming new ideas; write them down and keep a file, review quarterly.

- Always have marketing materials with you in your car - cards, flyers, brochures, postcards - you never know when you might be able to pass them out or put them on display!

- Always include your company contact info (and possibly a business card or promotion piece) with any invoice, card, mailer or email.

- Always follow up with each person you meet out networking within a week at most.

- Keep an organized database in your computer of everyone you know; categorizing them by hot, warm or cold prospect, client or referral source at the very least

- Develop a newsletter by mail or email to stay "on top of people's minds" so they will remember to refer you - if you don't remind them about you, they WILL forget about you!