Are You Using a Chess or Checkers Small Business Marketing Strategy
Are You Using a Chess or Checkers Small Business Marketing Strategy
Chess is a more complicated game than checkers - there are more variables. Therefore, much more thought and concentration is required to win a game of chess than is required to win a game of checkers.
Like chess, marketing your business is a complicated endeavor. A successful chess player anticipates future moves and will position his pieces in such a way that each piece helps add strength to his pieces already in place.
A successful marketing strategy is no different than a winning chess strategy. Every move you make must reinforce previous and future moves. Instead of rooks, bishops and queens the moves made in the game of marketing are made with advertisements, web sites, marketing messages, brochures and so on.
As a small business owner you don’t risk losing pieces to your opponent you risk losing business to your competitors.
Great chess players have a strategy that helps them win with consistency. Here’s a marketing strategy you can use to consistently win new business.
Focus Your Marketing
Target your market with a marketing message that speaks directly to the population you serve. A marketing message is a phrase or sentence that clearly demonstrates who you help and the problems you solve.
Develop and use your marketing message as often as you can. Doing so will help get your business get noticed by those most likely to buy from you. Use your marketing message in your marketing materials, your website and any and everywhere your business comes in contact with potential clients.
Effective use of a marketing message can be a small business owner’s best friend. A good one will work hard for you to generate new business and will never ask for anything in return.
Did you get your FREE copy of More Leads and Sales? It features marketing ideas, plans and strategies you can use to grow your business. Request your FREE copy.
Inspire Action
Once you’ve used your marketing message to grab hold of your prospects’ attention, be it at your website, after reading one of your ads or an article you’ve written, be sure you clearly instruct them to take the next action you want. It doesn’t matter what the action is as long as it requires them to provide you their contact information so you may continue marketing to them.
Offer something useful and free in exchange for their information. You can give away free recipes if you’re a caterer or tips on designing bouquets if you’re a florist. Just be certain to give clear directions about what should be done next to move your sales process along.
Build a Relationship
After you’ve successfully culled from your prospects’ their contact information it is now time for you to develop a relationship with them. Demonstrate to each prospect, individually, that he or she is on your radar screen. Be sure to communicate that you understand and that you can help solve their problems.
Common methods for developing relationships with prospects are distributing articles, publishing an ezine and conducting surveys. Be sure to include your marketing message with every article, ezine or survey.
Over time you will become the obvious solution to your clients’ problems when they decide to take action to solve what concerns them.
Move Your Marketing forward
Using each of the above methods will help you position your business much like a champion chess player positions his pieces. In the end victory and more sales will be yours.
Are You Using a Chess or Checkers Small Business Marketing Strategy - To learn more about this author, visit Jeremy Cohen's Website.
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Until the day I learned to play chess I loved playing checkers. Both games require a strategy that maximizes a player’s ability to capture his opponents pieces without first losing his own. Checkers was fun. But the complexities of chess lead to more satisfying victories and defeats.
Chess is a more complicated game than checkers - there are more variables. Therefore, much more thought and concentration is required to win a game of chess than is required to win a game of checkers.
Like chess, marketing your business is a complicated endeavor. A successful chess player anticipates future moves and will position his pieces in such a way that each piece helps add strength to his pieces already in place.
A successful marketing strategy is no different than a winning chess strategy. Every move you make must reinforce previous and future moves. Instead of rooks, bishops and queens the moves made in the game of marketing are made with advertisements, web sites, marketing messages, brochures and so on.
As a small business owner you don’t risk losing pieces to your opponent you risk losing business to your competitors.
Great chess players have a strategy that helps them win with consistency. Here’s a marketing strategy you can use to consistently win new business.
Focus Your Marketing
Target your market with a marketing message that speaks directly to the population you serve. A marketing message is a phrase or sentence that clearly demonstrates who you help and the problems you solve.
Develop and use your marketing message as often as you can. Doing so will help get your business get noticed by those most likely to buy from you. Use your marketing message in your marketing materials, your website and any and everywhere your business comes in contact with potential clients.
Effective use of a marketing message can be a small business owner’s best friend. A good one will work hard for you to generate new business and will never ask for anything in return.
Did you get your FREE copy of More Leads and Sales? It features marketing ideas, plans and strategies you can use to grow your business. Request your FREE copy.
Inspire Action
Once you’ve used your marketing message to grab hold of your prospects’ attention, be it at your website, after reading one of your ads or an article you’ve written, be sure you clearly instruct them to take the next action you want. It doesn’t matter what the action is as long as it requires them to provide you their contact information so you may continue marketing to them.
Offer something useful and free in exchange for their information. You can give away free recipes if you’re a caterer or tips on designing bouquets if you’re a florist. Just be certain to give clear directions about what should be done next to move your sales process along.
Build a Relationship
After you’ve successfully culled from your prospects’ their contact information it is now time for you to develop a relationship with them. Demonstrate to each prospect, individually, that he or she is on your radar screen. Be sure to communicate that you understand and that you can help solve their problems.
Common methods for developing relationships with prospects are distributing articles, publishing an ezine and conducting surveys. Be sure to include your marketing message with every article, ezine or survey.
Over time you will become the obvious solution to your clients’ problems when they decide to take action to solve what concerns them.
Move Your Marketing forward
Using each of the above methods will help you position your business much like a champion chess player positions his pieces. In the end victory and more sales will be yours.
Are You Using a Chess or Checkers Small Business Marketing Strategy - To learn more about this author, visit Jeremy Cohen's Website.
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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