We all have to start somewhere right?  Whether it’s learning to ride a bike,
learning to tile a bathroom or grow your business, it takes time, patience and
a goal.

When I meet clients who just can’t be bothered with
marketing or don’t know where to start with it all, these are the things I can
hear myself saying over and over again.

Who’s onboard?

In any business you need to know who your tribe are.  If you are a CEO then that’s your whole
workforce but if you are a solo entrepreneur, it might be other like-minded
people through networking or some affiliates. 
In order to grow and develop your business, you need to understand who
is on the same mission as you and where your skill set fits with theirs.  Then comes the ego…you must be willing to
hold your hands up when you are not particularly good at something and someone
else is.  The businesses I watch succeed are
the ones with a leader who knows how to surround themselves with a stellar
workforce.

Know your customer

So many people tick a box with marketing and don’t really think
about who it’s going to, what ‘it’ is, when it’s going to them and how it’s
getting there.  The key here is timing
and relevancy.  If you are not capturing
your audience while they are active and ready to receive your message, what’s
the point?  If your marketing isn’t
working for you STOP DOING IT.  If you
can’t gauge the outcome or feel the benefit through customer feedback STOP
DOING IT.  Realign your efforts towards
well-timed, relevant marketing that speaks your customers language.  Understand where they hang out (online or otherwise)
and get in there with them.

Build a toolbox

It’s no good wasting time week after week creating pretty flyers
and brochure if you don’t know how they will be received by the customer or
your sales teams won’t use them.  You
need to start with a healthy toolbox of everything you would use in a quarter
that id driven by your mission and upheld by your values.  It’s there then, ready, waiting, primed to
generate new customers and protect existing. 
Consideration must be given to lead generation here where you don’t just
go after brand spanking new customers, you nurture your old ones through their
opinions and solution led needs.  Get
your tools tip-top and use them for the right job.

Create a quarterly
plan

Planning ahead sounds dull as dishwater but it saves you
time and money in the long run, in fact it can even make you money.  You map your events, online activity,
publications, communications out by month and by quarter and hey presto,
trouble-free marketing in an instant! 
Coupled with your toolbox – you’re good to go!

Track your activity and
spend

Here's the kicker – tracking.  You’ve got a toolbox full of goodies, you know what you are putting out there and when, now all you need to do is action it, monitor and review.  Use the monitoring process to be flexible and develop to grow and review the process at regular, set, intervals (without fail) to ensure you stay on track with your objectives and the customer need.  This way you tie up the customer, your teams AND your prospects all in one simple effort.

It really is that simple.  About time you got started? Get in touch http://www.gemmaangharad.com