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What I Know for Sure About Marketing

Guest post by: Jessica Swanson

Article Overview: Shoestring marketing wisdom that will help you on your small business journey.

What I Know for Sure About Marketing

If you know anything about me than you know that I’m a huge Oprah fan. The hugest. I’ve been to her show four times. I even held her hand for 30 seconds (and then didn’t wash it for 24 hours). And yes, I actually HAVE talked to her personally - for the thirty seconds while I was holding her hand. 8-)

So, yes that’s my claim to fame.

And, one of my favorite sections of Oprah’s magazine is her “What I Know for Sure” segment, where she highlights a personal revelation that she has about life.

So, in keeping with this idea, I’m going to share with you “What I Know for Sure About Marketing.” It’s just a quick compilation of what I’ve learned over the years.

• Building a small business is a JOURNEY...you're in it for the ADVENTURE. You actually never ARRIVE.

• The minute your stop marketing is the minute your business stops growing.

• A great marketing plan will help you reach your business goals up to 150% faster.

• Magnificent marketing is immune to the economy.

• The secret to small business success? Relationships first, sales second.

• For your marketing to grab hold of the public, it needs to be bold, different and gutsy.

• To be a great marketer, you have to move outside of your comfort zone.

• Show your prospects how you will solve their problems, and you've consummated the sale.

• If you're not going to be exceptional, then you might as well not be in business at all.

• Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Now THAT's what I call good marketing!

• A business grows in the exact proportion to its marketing efforts.

• Here's the quickest way to small business failure: Blend in with the crowd.

• Stop INTERRUPTING and start INTERACTING.

• It is far more impressive what OTHERS say about your business than what YOU say about your business.

• Marketing is EVERY SINGLE INTERACTION that you have with your clients, prospects and customers.

• In the world of marketing, it's always better to be CLEAR than CLEVER.

• Your prospects are exposed to over 4,000 ads a day...what are YOU doing to get noticed?

• Get out there and GET NOTICED!

• The secret to small business success? Take action every day, even when you're not in the mood.

• A terrible thing happens without marketing...NOTHING!

• Stop talking and start doing. I'd rather see imperfect action than a perfect plan.

• You have TWO choices: 1) Take care of your customer, OR 2) Send them to your competition.

• The only way to the top is through solid and consistent marketing.

• Let your small business uniqueness SHINE so bright, it blinds your competition.

• Only the consistent and persistent marketers survive.

• The big shots are just the little shots who keep marketing.

• Small business success is entirely dependent on your marketing efforts.

• It’s a complete MYTH that you have to spend money to make money in the world of marketing.

• The customer doesn’t want your "sales pitch." Instead they’re looking for a relationship.

• Only market to the small percentage of people who need your product or service and ignore the rest.

• Always remember that your prospects only spend money when they feel SAFE, HAPPY and GOOD.

So there you have it. A few nuggets of shoestring marketing wisdom that will help you on your small business journey.

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Article Tags: relationship marketing, shoestring marketing, small business marketing



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