4 Ways to Overcome Marketing Challenges Forever

For most small business owners, marketing is an overwhelming concept. They need marketing solutions that ensure a smooth-running, profitable business yet most don't know where to begin or how to focus their efforts.

90% of small businesses don't even have a marketing plan. It's difficult to reach your destination if you don't know where you're going!

If you're a small business owner looking for ease, focus and marketing success, we recommend that you focus on just 4 tactics:



1. Establish a memorable and unmistakeable brand identity:

The secret to business success is determined by your ability to powerfully communicate your business with laser precision and your ability to deliver a clearly-defined and consistent experience.

In a nutshell... it's called branding, and, when done right, it ensures a thriving business with all the customers and profits you need. The secret is to establish a powerful brand identity that sings distinction. And establish that identity before you launch any marketing activities.

2. Create a deep connection with your core target audience - your potential raving fans!

Who wants and needs what you have to offer? The only wrong answer is "everyone." If you're a pediatrician, you may see infants and children. Are they your target audience? No! They are your patients, but it's the parents you need to connect with to get the kids in your door. And it's not just any parents - it's a definite group of parents.

In marketing, you get a lot more "bang for your buck" if you focus your spending on a well-defined group of people that you enjoy working with. The better you define this group, the more effective your marketing can be.

3. Design compelling offerings that pull customers in like a magnet.

80% of all purchase decisions are based on emotion. It's your job as a marketer to know how your customers want to feel and to get them to visualize how your services can meet their needs. People want to know, "What's in it for me?" Tap into the emotion and create offerings that touch your customers.

4. Craft A Personal, Workable Marketing Plan

Marketing is everything you do to make your product or service more visible, more desirable and more profitable. Your marketing plan will clearly define the big picture and provide focus and direction based on the 4 'P's of Marketing - product, price, place/distribution and promotion.

Since 90% of small business owners do not have a plan, you'll have a leg up on your competition by crafting your personal, workable marketing plan to ensure that you reach your business goals.

Following these 4 criteria will transform any small business into a money-making machine guaranteed to grow your client list, sales and profits. The upfront work is the secret to a million-dollar business, literally and figuratively.

source : Leslie Hamp - marketing.about.com