Yes. One of our menu items is developing a 1 or 3 year written marketing plan that gives you a short or long-term game plan that when executed properly can deliver results that give you a return on your marketing investment that is undeniably justified. A plan helps you avoid the feast or famine cycles commonly experienced by companies who inconsistently market their business.

Some companies boast that they have never marketed their business, and still experience growth and success. Although there are cases like this, they are extremely rare. A company that thinks they are successful without marketing never realize their full potential of where they would be with good marketing

• Business slows. They rush to do a mailer. (with the wrong message)
• Phone stops ringing. They buy an ad. (usually with little research)
• No new business. They hire more salespeople. (with no new leads)   
• Competition grows. Exhibit at a trade show. (with no pre-event marketing)
• Message is stale. They create new literature. (designed by a non-expert)
• Feel behind. They build a website (with no way to measure success) 

If done strategically, these activities can be effective, however, many small and medium size businesses do not have the time or the expertise to manage them. These professional marketing services can be expensive, especially if you need them all at once. Marketing without strategy can be a waste of time and money. Marketing with strategy is IM/TMA!

Some people have different understandings of what “marketing” means.  The official Encarta definition states: marketing: the business activity of presenting products or services to potential customers in such a way as to make them eager to buy. Marketing includes such matters as the pricing and packaging of the product and the creation of demand by advertising and sales campaigns. 

Many small businesses forget the importance of marketing to grow their business, and marketing soon becomes an afterthought.  Strategic marketing is a critical component of building a successful business and without it—most businesses either have stunted growth or fail. Some businesses only do marketing when their business starts to slow. Some slow-growth businesses will then rush to do some marketing—resulting in feast or famine cycles in regards to generating sales leads.

Little things make a big difference. That’s true in marriage, parenting and in selling products and services. Too often small business owners get caught up in the “thick” of “thin things” and lose touch with what really drives success. In the little time we have together this morning I want to remind you or surprise you of eight little sins that small business owners often commit that stop them from growing their business.

Sin # 1—Working “In” Your Business Instead of “On” Your Business

I was speaking recently with a small business owner who was in a sales slump. I asked him to detail all his activities for the next three days, fax them to me, and then give me a call back. Three days later, he faxed me his activity list on a spreadsheet and how much time he spent on each activity. It only took a moment to determine  exactly what his problem was … he had forgotten what business he was in. After reviewing his activities it was clear that he was in “the putting out fires” business because that’s where most of his time was spent. Rather than working “on” his business, he was working “in” his business. He should be spending his time (like any of us who own a small business) working “on” his business by doing things like “planning and marketing”, which have a higher long-term payoff.

In his popular book, “7 Habits for Highly Effective People” Stephen Covey hammers this point home using his famous “Time Management Matrix”. Dr. Covey emphasizes that too many business owners spend their time doing “urgent—but not important” activities when they should be spending their time on “non-urgent—but important” activities. Non-urgent—but important activities, such as planning and marketing, generate continued and sustainable long term growth.

Sin # 2—Failing to Create and Use a Marketing Plan

A marketing consultant I know was speaking at a conference with about 200 small business owners in the room. He asked the crowd to hold up their hands if they had a current marketing plan that they use and refer to on a consistent basis. Only three hands went up! Even he was shocked. Studies have shown that small businesses that create and consistently use marketing plans experience an average of 30% higher sales than their competitors. I am sure any business would like to increase their sales by 30%. 

Here are a few tips to help you create a marketing plan:

Tip 1—Start your plan by studying and documenting the specific reasons why your clients buy from you.

Tip 2—Create a message that focuses entirely on the results from Tip 1.

Tip 3—Break your plan down into mini-plans such as “referral marketing plan”, “advertising plan”, and “publicity marketing plan”.

Tip 4—Hold a weekly meeting to review your plan.

Sin # 3—Failing to Implement Systems

A system is a business process that generates predictable, consistent, and replicable results day after day. If you want to see a good example of a system simply visit a fast food franchise like McDonalds or Taco Bell. Notice how they do the same things, the same way, every single time.

Unfortunately, most business owners never take the time to “systematize” their business, which results in duplication, waste, chaos, and ultimately lost sales. Sin # 1 is partly to blame for not getting around to creating and implementing systems.

The ironic thing is that most small companies have systems for just about everything they do, but they don’t document them and train their employees to use them. I like to use the acronym S-Y-S-T-E-M (Save—You– Stress– Time—Energy and Money) to explain the benefits of using systems.

Sin # 4—Forgetting to Market to Your Current Customers

Many small business owners believe that once you sell your product or service and the happy customer walks out the door or hangs up the phone, then the deed is done and you need to move quickly on to the next prospect. While that is true, your next prospect might have just walked out the door or hung up the phone!

Many business owners tend to think, “My customer just bought a widget from me — they’re not going to buy another widget so why waste my time on them. Let’s find a new prospect.” This is especially true if your product or service is a high ticket item. The fact is that you should be getting 60 to 70% of your business from your current customers through referral and repeat business.

A good marketing plan should include customer appreciation events, monthly or quarterly newsletters, and direct mail offers all designed to stimulate repeat business. In addition, every small business should implement systems that generate “multiple streams of customer referrals”.

Sin # 5—Not Testing and Tracking Your Marketing Efforts

A successful retailer once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” There’s nothing worse than spending money on a marketing campaign and not knowing whether it worked. It’s even worse when you continue to spend money on a marketing campaign that you think is working, but really isn’t.

The only way to invest in your marketing efforts with confidence is to test a campaign, track it, and measure your results. One idea is to always offer something of low risk, like a special report, DVD, or audio CD to get people to respond immediately via the phone or a website so that you can track your response.

This strategy also allows you to capture your prospects contact information so that you can continue to follow up with them.