BACK UP YOUR FILES!
While working through a few design issues I accidently wiped my hosted server clean. I lost everything. Comments, posts, profiles, pictures…all of it, within a few seconds, was gone. From this event came good news and bad news.

The bad news was…that I had not backed up my files previously, so I had alot of work to do to get everything back up and running by the end of the day.

The good news was…that I was able to get copies of a few of my previous posts. In addition to that I found a few tools for WordPress users that will automatically back up your blog’s files. I will be publishing a short list of those here in a day or two.

For those of you who have subscribed to updates via email I apologize for the fact that you got five posts in your inbox today. I hope this will not have to happen again.

– David Robertson

As our conversations continued over the past few months I heard phrases used to describe their marketing efforts like:

• “The WOW factor”
• “Great service”
• “The referral thing”

There are a lot of business owners that can identify with this President. Marketing most business owners is a strange theory, a phenomenon, or even a complicated science. They don’t quite understand how to view marketing or how to execute a effective marketing plan. Many business owners often fall victim to the marketing idea of the month and often just copy what they see other companies doing.

The Solution to Marketing Confusion
The solution to marketing confusion comes by understanding two things: First, that marketing is simply getting people who have a need to know, like and trust you enough to buy your solution. Second, that marketing, just like any other aspect of business, is a system.

Though simple, these two concepts are very hard to apply. Here are three beginning steps that any business owner can take to be turn their marketing efforts into a system rather than random campaigns and efforts.

Know Your Audience
When writing a book the author must understand who it is that she is writing to. In business the same thing applies. When a business wants to communicate a message to a possible customer, they first must know who that possible customer is. This audience is called the business’ target market.

The first step in turning your marketing into a system is to understand who it is that you are marketing to and write a description of this group. This will become the target of all your marketing efforts.

Know How to Reach Your Audience
If a target market is described specifically enough, then a majority of those people can be found in two or three places and will respond to two or three methods of communication. After those two or three things are discovered, it is your job to find which ways are most effective in communicating and getting a response.

The second step in creating your marketing system is to find two or three ways to reach your target market. This may take several trial campaigns and close tracking, but it is well worth it.

Know Your Message
I’ve seen business owners invest thousands of dollars advertising there company to a very specific target market using a method that is proven to work, but get zero return from the campaign. This only happens when the message does not communicate the value in making a decision. You see, a potential customer does not want to know how long your company has been in business or how many awards you have won. The customer only wants to know that your company will solve a problem in a way that no other company can.

The third step in creating your marketing system is to write your marketing message. All of your future marketing activities will be aligned with this marketing message.

If you are frustrated with the results of your past marketing efforts or with the growth of your business, then I highly recommend looking creating a system for your efforts to work on. When you do this you will get very predictable results, consistent results, and profitable results. You won’t have to be frustrated about the growth of your company or the results of the marketing campaigns you partake in.

The end result to creating a marketing system for your business is that you will be able to attract more new business, work only with those who value your solutions, and charge more for your service or product.

“Spend 70% of your time marketing your business. If you are not able to spend 70% of your time marketing your business, then hire staff until you are able to spend 70% of you time marketing you business.”

-Pete Dutton (District Manager, Farmers Insurance)

Unfortunately, I did not learn what this advise meant until after I had failed twice and lost thousands of dollars, two years of time, and the respect of loved ones. By that time it was to late to recover.Since, then I’ve learned that after a business is started th are three directions that the owner can take it. The business could fail miserably, the business could succeed greatly, or it could stagger along without ever really succeeding or failing. The variable that separates the later two often is the owner’s opinion about marketing and how it relates to their position as owner.The owners that view their job as a marketer and develop a system of marketing are the ones that are more likely to bring their business toward success. The owners that view their job differently have a lot of problems that are otherwise avoidable. Here are four characteristics that I’ve seen in business owners who don’t take marketing their business, agency or firm personally and do not treat marketing as a system.Failure to achieve business objectives. Whether mandated by a vendor or mandated by the owner each business has objectives that are given to bring success within reach. If a business’ marketing system is the tool that guarantees the achievement of the objectives given by a business owner, then how are the objectives going to be met without the personal involvement of the owner? The answer is simple; the objectives established by the owner will not be consistently met without the owner taking a personal interest in a system of marketing. If you show me a business led by someone who is not personally involved in their marketing system, then I’ll show you a business that is not succeeding as it should.Impaired team members. Business owners that do not take an active role in their marketing system are less likely to be able to assemble a team that works together. Often the employees of a business like this are confused and don’t have an understanding of the process that brings an individual from prospect to customer. Employees that don’t have this understanding cannot function as a team, because they don’t understand how they fit into the team and why their job is important to the success of the company.If you show me a business led by someone who is not personally involved in their marketing system, then I’ll show you a business where the employees cannot act as a team to accomplish success in the company.Diminished customer loyalty. When the owner of a business is not actively involved in developing the marketing system that projects a message of value to the public two things begin to happen. The first is that current paying customers fall between the cracks. The second is that the message of value that the business brings to it’s customers starts looking very inconsistent. Both of these result in lost revenue to the business and lost income to the business owner.If you show me a business led by someone who is not personally involved in their marketing system, then I’ll show you a business that is loosing customers from the business, revenue for the business, and income for the owner.Minimum growth VS maximum potential. I have had experience working with business owners that have taken marketing seriously and business owners that treat marketing as an extra thing to add to their business. The ones that take it seriously are the ones that reach their maximum potential, but the ones who fall victim to the marketing idea of the month are the ones that more often than not are barely scraping along with 2%-3% growth. They stagger along without ever really succeeding and don’t really fail either. The owners get frustrated and loose their sense of purpose that they started with. They are unable to consistently succeed they way they should. Their employees have a hard time working as a team. Their customers often fall through the cracks and loose the sense of value that originally attracted them. Over all, the business that is led by someone who does not take the marketing process seriously and does not take the time to develop a system of marketing will not achieve it’s maximum potential.If you show me a business led by someone who is not personally involved in the marketing system, then I’ll show you a business that is not achieving it’s maximum potential.

In order to rise above your competitor you must narrow your marketing focus. As a business owner, you are able to attract more customers, get more referred business, and charge more money for your product or services if you are willing to narrow your marketing focus.

A good example of this is a plumber who specializes in older homes or a plumber who specializes in new construction. If I was an owner of an older home or someone who was going to build a house, then I would choose the business that appeared to be better equipped to fill my need.

Even though both plumbers could do the same work they are able to attract more customers, get more referred business and charge more for their services because they have created a target market that they can excel in. Their reputation is much easier to define and market because of their narrow marketing focus.

Here are three steps to a narrowed marketing focus:

1. Create a profile for your ideal client.
If you’ve been in business a while, then go through your clientsand find the common facts in the ones that you currently have. Also, pick your most profitable clients and create a profile from the common facts about them.

If you are starting new, then you may try to find a business that does business within your target market that may not consider themselves your competitor. See if you can establish a relationship with them and share your target markets (also good to create co-branded marketing - a post for the future).

2. Find the best way to communicate to this market.
This may seem elementary, but you must communicate to your target market on their terms and at the places that they gather.

Example: If my target market were retired couples, then a blog probably would not attract them directly.

3. Be willing to refer business that does not fit.
For those of you who have established target markets, you know that the exceptions you make are the clients that most likely cause you the most trouble. Create a strong business ally by referring business to other businesses that do not compete with your target market.

A narrowed marketing focus can save you the stress of trying to be all things to all people. Instead, if you are the best to some people, then you will attract more profitable clients, receive more referrals and be able to charge more for your product or service. That is a pretty good deal, don’t you think?

“How do you move your business from being great to being the best?”

Many would argue that being the best can be done with a company’s marketing strategy or advertising. Still others claim that the answer is found in the sales force of a business or even the leadership, but I would suggest that it is not any single one of these. See, marketing, advertising, sales and even leadership can all be improved with the right staff, right? So even though all the above aspects to a business’s quest to be the best are important, they are underlined and supported with the right people working for your customer.

To attract the right people for your company, many employers would say that, you must pay the right money for the job, but in a poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates for the Center for State and Local Government Excellence the found that its not just about the money.

In this poll 1,200 adults were given a list of 15 important characteristics in choosing a job and would you believe that the amount one is paid was ranked all the way down as the tenth most important in choosing a job? For those business owners and employers out there that means that there are nine other things that your employees consider more important that the amount that their paid.

Wouldn’t it be pretty important to know what those things are?

The health insurance plan was ranked as most important by these participants with 84 percent calling it very important. Also, job security and being in an environment with clear policies and procedures were rated second and third in importance. 82 percent rated them as very important.

For the company CEO or the small business owner this means that a job that provides great health benefits, job security, and clear policies and procedures is going to attract the best talent and skills. If you are recruiting the same candidate that your competition is trying to attract, then the final decision is going to be made on several differing points. As the company striving to be the best that talent should not be lost due to company policies (or lack of), benefits, or job security.

If you want to be the best, then keep and attract the best. Decide what talent & skill you need to keep or attract to be the best, then find what is important to the people that provide the talent & skill. Who knows, with some creativity you could move your business from being great to being the best!

Brad Isaac, the author of the blog Persistence Unlimited, has an inspirational view on successfully setting goals. His philosophy is that whether you want to buy a BigMac at McDonald’s or earn a $1,000,000 you have to go through the same process of achieving your goal. The only difference is the amount of time & planning that goes into reaching the desired destination…

Here are 5 questions you must ask yourself in order to successfully reach any goal you have set:

1. What do I want?
A journey has to start with the end in mind. If you don’t have a destination, then you’ll never really leave, but more importantly you’ll never really arrive.

Define what you want. Do it as specifically as you can.

Example:
Goal: Buy a BigMac (with cheese) from McDonald’s
Goal: Earn $1,000,000:

2. When do I want this?
Every day you set goals and achieve them. The goals that are easy to achieve are ones that are quickly obtainable. The harder goals are ones that take years or possibly decades to achieve.

When you decide to get a “BigMac (with cheese) from McDonald’s” you normally know when you want it. Why, when you want something bigger do you not define that too? Most people treat the long-term goals differently than short-term goals. They want to earn $1,000,000, but they don’t know when they want it as long as it happens…Don’t do this.

Define when you want it.

Example:
Goal: Buy a BigMac (with cheese) from McDonald’s for lunch today…
Goal: Earn $1,000,000 in the next 10 years…

3. Where am I now in relation to where my goal is?
When you use Google Maps to look up directions to your friends house you have to have the starting address. In order to successfully arrive at the correct destination, you have to know where you are compared to where your going.

Define where you will start from.

Example:
Goal: I’m at home and I want to buy a BigMac (with cheese) from McDonald’s for lunch today…
Goal: I have no money and I want to earn $1,000,000 in the next 10 years…

4. What do I need to do in order to get from here to there?
What steps do you have to take to get from point A to point B? There may be a long list of things that you have to do in order to achieve some of your goals, but you’ll never arrive if you don’t know what needs to be done in between now and then.

Define how you will do it.

5. Is it worth it?
I’ve found that if I define what I want, when I want it and how to get there, then the next question I have to ask myself is, “Is it worth the cost?” If the goal out ways the cost (time, money, energy, relationships, etc.), then follow the plan that you have outlined with these five questions.

Decide if it’s worth the cost.

Goal setting is really quite simple. You do it every day with every decision you make. Some goals are short-term. Some goals are long-term. Either one is achieved through the same process. To successfully achieve your goals you mus:

Define what you want.
Define when you want it.
Define where you will start from.
Define how to do it.
Decide if it’s worth the cost.