Put Your Business On Track For Success! Tip #2 – Marketing With Purpose
“You can’t hit a target you cannot see, and you cannot see a target you do not have.” – Zig Ziglar
On Day 1, you agreed to accept the concept of marketing is everything you do or say to a prospect or customer. Which in reality means you will be thinking marketing all the time. Today we’re going to focus on if you’re going to be thinking marketing all the time then there must be a purpose for doing so.
Yes, you must do marketing with purpose. What are your marketing goals? What exactly is the outcome you really want from your marketing? Or even better What is the primary reason you’re marketing? Are you trying to increase:
- sales dollars.
- awareness.
- sales conversion rates.
- mix of products and services.
- units sold.
- share of market.
- share of customer’s business.
- number of new accounts
- number of new relationships.
- public relations placements.
I didn’t talk about this in the video but as a *BONUS* make sure your marketing goals follow the SMART goals format:
- Specific —your marketing goals must identify exactly what you want to accomplish in as much specificity as you can muster.
- Measurable —as the old adage says, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
- Actionable —every resolution should start with a verb (e.g., “quit,” “run,” “finish,” “eliminate,” etc.)
- Realistic —you have to be careful here. A good goal should stretch you, but you have to add a dose of common sense.
- Time-bound —every goal needs a date associated with it. When do you plan to deliver on that goal. It could be by year-end (December 31) or it could be more near-term (March 31).
Example: Maybe you want to develop 50 new leads by June 3, generate 1000 web hits a day, cultivate five new clients in the next 3 months, send 100 newsletters targeted to the most influential people in your industry or develop a new brochure by Sept 1. Recognizing the success or failure of all steps that follow will be based on the clarity of your initial goals
and purpose.
Again remember “that the professional knows that their success will depend on what they do with what they know not just what they know.”
It’s action time. List three to five goals for your marketing and once you have the goal, determine your strategy. This is how you will accomplish your goal. Remember we’re putting your business on track for success and preparing to have the best year ever.
Indispensable Marketing takes a process approach to developing and installing your small business marketing.