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Are You Marketing To Your Potential?
© 2003 By Charlie Cook
Many small business
owners struggle to grow their businesses only to find
themselves stuck in a morass of marketing, management and
delivery tasks. As your business becomes more complex and
time consuming, the original vision of the business usually
changes or gets lost, and it can become increasingly
difficult to define and implement a marketing strategy that
helps you achieve your business potential.
As a marketing coach I have many small business clients
whose marketing is going nowhere because they haven't
clearly identified where they want to take their
business/what they want their business to be/ and what role
they want to play in it.
Whether you want to take your business to the next level
or are just starting out, to be more successful at
marketing you need to regularly clarify what you want
your business to be and what your role in it is or
should be. In order to develop a marketing strategy and
plan that works for you, you need to first clarify:
- What are your business passions and strengths
- How do you want to spend your time
- What work tasks you enjoy
- What type of business you want to create
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DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS PASSIONS AND STRENGTHS
The energy, determination and persistence it takes to
build a business only makes sense if you are doing something
you love - or that at least gives you great satisfaction.
What do you enjoy doing the most? What are you happy doing
day in and day out?
What are your Strengths?
Identify your business passion, and then examine your
strengths within that passion. How can you leverage your
interest and knowledge to become a sought after expert
in your field?
Say you love skiing and want to make a living in that
industry, which you know well. Are you going to run a ski
shop, be a ski instructor, or become a skiing guru,
sought after by thousands, with your simple and
innovate teaching techniques?
Which aspects of your passion suit your expertise and
experience? How can you build a business around them?
SET GOALS FOR HOW YOU WANT TO SPEND YOUR TIME
Personality and interests vary. Some small business owners
have a passion for hands on delivery, others enjoy focusing
on growing their business and coordinating the delivery of
products and services.
Some can't stand being stuck in an office all day;
others would prefer never to talk to a client or customer.
What aspects of your business are you good at and which do
you want to develop further?
Use the following questions to help you clarify how you want
to spend your week.
- Do you like being in charge of marketing, operations or
service delivery?
- Are you an educator, do you love sharing what you know or
do you like inventing new products people can use without
your involvement? Or both?
- Do you prefer managing the business and delegating daily
tasks to others?
- Do you like to travel or prefer to work from an office or
at home?
- How important is flexibility in scheduling and work
location?
- Do you want to work less and earn the same?
- Do you want to work part time or do you love your work so
much that you could do it seven days a week?
- Do you want to structure your work so it is more
satisfying?
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CLARIFY THE TASKS YOU ENJOY
We all like and dislike specific activities, excel at some
and are better off delegating certain tasks to others.
Clarifying what you like and dislike is essential to then
defining the strategies and structures you need to create a
more satisfying work
environment.
- Do you enjoy coming up with new products?
- Do you enjoy selling your services and products?
- Do you like to write or prefer public speaking?
- Or both?
- Is the phone your communication tool of preference?
- Do you prefer to use email for most of your communication?
- Do you enjoy public speaking and sharing your ideas?
- Do you enjoy following up with employees to make sure
they've done agreed on tasks?
SPECIFY THE TYPE OF BUSINESS YOU WANT TO CREATE
What have the answers to the questions above told you about
your business and your role in it? Depending on the services
and products you provide, does your
business need additional staff, facilities, technology,
geographic presence, or capital?
Would you prefer to be a successful one person business/sole
proprietor? Would you like to grow your business to include
five to fifty employees? Will profit or passion be the
driving force? Or both? Are your markets local, regional,
national or international?
Answer these questions to define your business goals and
your role in your business' growth. Once you have a clear
and current idea of where you are going, you can define a
marketing strategy to get there, to achieve your business
potential.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps
independent professionals and small business
owners
attract more clients and increase their earnings
with the 5 Principles of Highly Effective
Marketing.
Sign up to receive the Free Marketing Guide and
the
'More Business' newsletter, full of practical
tips
you can use at
http://www.charliecook.net |
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