Have you ever stopped to wonder what the roadmap to success looks like? Let me help you paint a picture.
It starts with having a vision. Can you see where you are headed? If you can’t, you might be hard pressed to end up there. Lot’s can be said about not having vision. The Bible even says “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). If you do not have a vision for your business, or know the real reason why you are in the day to day grind of running a business, then you need to stop and figure that out first. I guarantee you will experience a greater level of success when you can work with your vision in mind.
Next, you need a proven plan. If you have not created a successful business in the past, you will need to learn from the successes (and failures) of others. There are lots or resources to help you, but specifically, you need a proven business and marketing plan. It would take much more time to elaborate on all that you need to have in each of those, but I will give you a 30,000 foot overview.
In short, your business plan should spell out the following:
- What you do (your product of service offering)
- Who you do it for (your target audience)
- How you do it (why you are different, what do you charge, etc.)
- How you connect with your target audience (your marketing plan)
The marketing plan is no more important than the rest because if you market a bad business, you will fail, just as easily as if you don’t effectively market a solid business.
Your marketing plan should detail how you connect with your prospects, and there are many ways to do that, including:
- Sphere of influence marketing
- Asking for Referrals
- Networking
- Telemarketing
- Search Engine Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Video Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Direct (mail) Marketing
- TV & Radio Campaigns
As you can see, there are lots of ways to market a business. Some work better than others and some work better in some industries.
As we start out the year, I want to make sure that you take this month to take a hard look at what you produced last year because the skills and resources that you have got you there, and you might need to acquire some additional skills and resources.
I am always happy to offer a free consultation to help those who want to improve their businesses. Feel free to connect with me and set that appointment up.
Happy New Year!
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