Are You Using a Chess or Checkers Small Business Marketing Strategy

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.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

E-Mail | Print | More

Related Articles
Are You Using a Chess or Checkers Small Business Marketing Strategy
	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...
How Aikido Can Save Your Business Marketing
	Aikido is a Japanese martial art based on “blending with your opponents energy”. As I learned during my 12+ years of training on the mat, victory over others is a matter of physical and mental training. In business,...
Part 5: Marketing and Sales Strategies
	Marketing is the process of creating customers, and customers are the lifeblood of your business. In this section, the first thing you want to do is define your marketing strategy. There is no single way to approach...
A Great Book Week
	One of my favorite things about going dark for a week is that I get to consume a bunch of books. Since we’ve been back from Alaska, my reading pace has been slower than normal, so it was nice to have plenty of unin...
Chess And Beer Making Unorthodox Training Delivers Results
	With training and development becoming the next big benefit, one company is trying to make its program not just good for you, but fun as well.

---

Related Forum Posts
	Internet marketing email strategy
	best internet marketing strategies
	internet marketing strategy article
	Michael's Marketing Guides
	Free Business ebooks
	New Small Business Topic
	Re: Congrats Shri!
	Free MIT Courses