Last post, I introduced the antidote to “Spray and Pray” marketing. It is called the Plan and Persevere Method and includes 7 simple and proven steps that will truly make a difference in the way you meet and interact with your target market.

1. Be in it for the long haul. Marketing isn’t a one shot deal. All your content and effort is tied into everything else and builds on the relationships you are potentially creating with your market. Come up with a marketing plan so each piece you do is connected to the rest of it. This is the biggest mistake I see my clients make. At the beginning, you need to strategize and then follow the plan. If you give up after one or two marketing activities, you could be stopping just before you are going to strike gold. A good marketing plan should be attached to your calendar so you know what activities you are doing each month to attract your ideal clients and retain existing ones.

2. Don’t be invisible. In order to capture the attention of prospective clients, you need to get creative. Both direct and indirect marketing methods need to be included. Most people will rely on only one or the other. A common mistake I see is that business owners are often afraid of sending too many emails, so will pull back and only come up with a brochure and business card.

Let me say this up front….you will get some people cranky if you step up your marketing efforts. There will be unsubscribe requests to your list, but that’s okay. Good marketing also serves to repel the folks who aren’t a good fit for you, so if you are fearful of offending people, just take some deep breaths and know that you are here to serve a particular market…and the more you contact that market, the more you can support them.

Next, you will want to come up with a plan to include both direct and indirect marketing. For example….you will want to include an online ezine, blogs, and be submitting articles to the online portals, as well as mailing post cards, print newsletters, or other advertising. Those are the indirect methods. Meaning, they can’t touch you, or experience you live. Good ideas for direct methods are where people get to see or hear you, so more trust is established. It’s just a heck of a lot easier to have people believe you when they can hear your voice or see you live.
You can do either speaking engagements, teleseminars, or use video/audio in your email or website to accomplish this. Coaching challenge: You will want to pick three or four marketing ‘channels’ which your market will respond to. (You may be able to do some research to discover which ones your market prefers!)

We’re just getting started with steps 1 and 2. You’ll definitely want to check back for the rest of the list!

Blessings,
Therese