Do you find marketing frustrating? A science? Expensive?

If you do, you are not alone! This article will provide you with practical steps which you can implement into your business today and see results within the next couple of weeks - guaranteed.

Marketing is perceived to be something of a dark art. Very often a business approaches its marketing as a one-off activity i.e. create a website, attend one networking meeting, write one press release, place one advert. Here lies the common marketing mistake. Marketing is a business process and requires discipline and, most importantly, it needs to be integrated into your day-to-day business activities.

To attract new clients and retain existing ones you need to set goals, target a need, get attention, prompt action, grow your network, establish credibility, provide a solution, follow up, demonstrate value and stay in touch.

I was talking to a local company at a networking event last week and we were discussing their website. They had paid a significant amount of money to have the website developed and it wasn’t producing any new enquiries or new customer’s. They asked me to review their site and provide feedback. I checked out their site and immediately saw one of their main issues. The website was 80% focused on their business, who they where, what they had achieved etc, etc…. It didn’t explain or demonstrate what the customer was going to get for their money!

We made one small immediate change and, by the end of the week, they had generated two new customers and we are in the process of restructuring and rewriting the whole website to focus on the customer needs.

1. Set Goals Review your marketing regularly. What’s working and what isn’t. Set objectives for lead generation, client acquisition and retention. An example of a goal would be to generate 5 new customers per month using networking and your website

2. Target a Need Focus all your marketing activities i.e. website, brochures, business cards, staff, flyers etc on the needs of your customer. The difference between a feature and a need is this:-

• A feature of a laptop computer is that it has a battery
• The need is that that user needs the laptop to have a battery life of at least 6 hours!

3. Get Attention Prospects need to know that you exist before they will contact you i.e. show up at networking events, attend trade shows or exhibitions, build case studies, put them on your website and generate some PR. Most importantly, generate interest. You may be the best at what you do - and you know this, but do your potential clients know this?

4. Prompt Action In order to get prospects to give you their contact information, inquire about your services or buy your products, prompt them to action. Use your marketing copy and your offers to get prospects to call you, visit your web site, and return a questionnaire.

5. Grow Your Network The more qualified leads you have, the better. Set goals around growing your networking, e.g. to attend two relevant business networking events a month, speak to three new people and follow up within 48 hours.

6. Establish Credibility You need to demonstrate your competence and convince prospects to trust you before they'll make a purchase. Use case studies, testimonials and PR to establish credibility. Write your marketing copy to talk about who you have worked with, what their problems were and how you solved them.

7. Follow Up Old leads are cold leads. Follow up when leads are fresh. When people contact you, send an immediate email response or drop them a letter, return their call within 24 hours. Set up a follow-up system in your business today that is time relevant to your industry.

8. Provide a Solution Make sure your products and services are the solution to your prospects' problems. Find out what problems they have and then address these issues using your products and services.

9. Demonstrate Value If you want someone to buy, they need to understand the benefits. Clearly outline why they should be using you. Position yourself as the expert.

10. Stay in Touch Don't let prospects forget you when they need you and are ready to buy. This is a big area in business that is neglected and really deserves its own article. Stay in touch with prospects and customers.

Take Action today - start using these ten steps consistently and, in a couple of weeks, you'll start to see a really change. You'll find more prospects contacting you and your revenue steadily increasing. Contact Genesis Marketing to find to arrange an initial no obligation 1 hour review of your current marketing activities.