Marketing 101....What is the 1 thing you want to know about developing your marketing
 blueprint?

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Years ago, I used to run work/life balance workshops for many large organisations – it was something that I truly believed in. It was my soapbox for many years. I could rattle off all the statistics as to why it was important; give you worksheets to show you how to do it properly, and hound you relentlessly if you didn’t do it the way research (and I) said it should be done.

That was until I realised that work/life balance was a total crock! The notion of work/life balance and all its ramifications was designed to make us feel more guilty than we needed to.

And I have been reminded of this issue over the past few weeks when working with my mentor clients, and again during lunch today with my colleague. My clients are shocked when I tell them that work/life balance is really just a marketing tool and nothing more. My lunch date was on the same page as me, and agreed totally. So there we were having a great conversation about what the concept of work/life balance meant for each of us.

We started with this; Is there such a thing as work/life balance, and what if instead, we looked at it as simply balance – nothing more and nothing less? And that you were able to define what this meant for you and only you. How does that feel?

For me, balance is feeling contented at the end of the day, knowing that I’ve done the best I can for myself, my family, and my clients. To me , it means that it’s okay when I need to work twelve hour days to finish off a campaign. It means that the three hours I might do on a Saturday morning, is fine. And the reason it is fine, is because I will balance it out at the other end making sure I take the time out to connect with my family – this could be as simple as finishing early on some days, or heading away for a long weekend.

For Jen, it means that when she doesn’t finish a meeting with clients until after 7pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, she is able to balance this out by finishing early on Thursday or Friday and picking the kids up from school and focusing solely on them for a few hours. She has the support of her family, keeps them updated on what she is doing, and checks in regularly with how her children feel when Mum may not be there for dinner. Jen has learnt not to feel guilty about creating the life she wants for herself, because as she said: “I’m a happier wife and mother, when I'm able to create my own life balance.”

What does it mean for you? Are you able to create a balanced lifestyle based on your terms or do the well meaning people in your life make you feel guilty for doing what is right for you?

Feel free to send me through your thoughts on balance, and what it means to you. Tweet

Client Satisfaction - What are your ideas/strategies for extraordinary client satisfaction?

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Marketing is key to business success - what is your #1 marketing tip?

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  Do you have a mission statement?  If so, what is it and how
  does it help/assist you with your business success?

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I was reading a report last week that said that only 10% of small businesses in America take the time to properly develop a marketing strategy. It made me think that if this was happening in the US, I’m sure the figures would be similar regardless of where you are in the world. Why is it that you may start a business, but decide not to put a plan into place of how to grow your livehood? If you were heading out on a road trip to a new destination, my guess is that you would have some type of map, whether it be a GPS, a list of directions or a good old-fashioned map. It just makes sense to know where you’re going!

Often when I begin working with my mentor clients, and we begin to speak about their marketing strategy, they overcomplicate the process and aren't quite sure what this needs to look like or be for them. And, I need to let you know that in some cases, these are woman and man who have been in business for five or more years. Now, I'm not saying this to make them wrong, but I wanted to highlight the fact that it's not just a challenge for those who are new to business. As you will know, I’m a big believer in using the “KISS” principle. Keep it simple (stupid) and make it practical, so that you firstly, develop the strategy, and secondly, make sure you implement the strategy.

Having a marketing strategy in place is good business sense, and as I mentioned if you need something simple, than please make it simple. My request is that you take the time to develop this strategy, so that it helps you grow your business, helps you increase your sales funnel, boost your client list, pay your bills and most importantly bring you back to the reason you are doing what you are doing.

Let’s take a look at two simple steps you can put in place to begin developing your marketing strategy for 2011. (Yes, I do mean 2011, because it is coming fast!)

Step 1 :

Develop your strategy .

a) Be very clear on who your ideal clients are. I’m going to presume that since you have been reading my newsletters you are clear on who these people are. If you’re not sure, then take time to re-read this article. If you haven’t done so already, take the time to work through my latest report on “How you can identify your ideal clients.”. If it has been over 2 months since you subscribed, then you may want this updated report to work through .

b) Look at what you can do to take your solutions from ordinary to extraordinary. As there are so many small businesses out there, you may not be getting noticed, because you seem just like everyone else. Take a moment, ask yourself and be really honest here with your answer; “What do I need to do to make my service extraordinary?” If you’re not sure, ask those people around you that you trust, ask some of your most valuable clients – find out and listen to what people are saying to you. The answers you receive may require you to re-think your current business strategy. But don’t despair, because I know this will be worth it; especially if you can offer a product or service in a way that nobody else can, your competition can become redundant. And I heard this saying recently and want to share it with you: When it comes to your prospects, don't be a choice - be the choice.

Step 2:

Develop your plan

a) Block out some time, and begin to develop your 12-month plan that fits in precisely with your strategy. To achieve your goals for the next 12 months - what are the strategies you need to put in place each month and how are you going to track them? Here are a few ideas to begin thinking about: email campaigns; advertising campaigns; public relations campaigns; your live events; keynote speaking; training webinars; etc .

b) Once you have developed your 12-month plan, and broken it down into monthly targets, break it down further into what you will need to do weekly to meet your overall goal. Then each week, block out some time to evaluate what happened the week before; what you will be focusing on this week and what is coming up the following week. It’s like your road trip, you know where you are going but if something comes up unexpectedly, you are prepared to meet this current challenge or issue.

Let me know how you go with this. If you’re still not sure what you need to do here to begin, then you won’t want to miss out on October’s Business Building Blocks webinar – this is exactly what we will be working on. So get the jump on your competitors and join our call.

And one last thought - activity breeds activity Tweet