by Charlie Cook, Marketing Coach - In Mind Communications, LLC.

You want to improve your marketing, attract more clients and grow your business, but don’t have the time to make these things happen. Every month or so I get a call from Carl who wants to learn how to improve his marketing. He knows he could do better, but between client meetings, phonë calls, and managing his business, Carl just can’t find the time to focus on improving his marketing. Sound familiar?

Small business owners have a plethora of management and administrative tasks including product development. Who has time to tune up their marketing?

If you want your business to run like a fine machine, start treating it like one. Handle your time and your marketing the same way you’d treat a Mercedes. Don’t just give it gas and oil, give it a regular tune up. Here’s how.

1. Write Down Your Goals
   
   What are your personal and business goals? Owning a fancy car? Selling a successful business you started? Making three hundred thousand dollars a year? Donating a fortune to your favorite charity? Write them down.
   
   For each goal you write down, identify the relevant subset of goals. If you want to improve your marketing, write down annual marketing goals and then each week and each day write down the specific goals you need to achieve in order to reach your largër goals.
   
   If you want to reach your goals, you need to have them. Research shows that writing them increases the likelihood that you’ll remember them and achieve them.
   
   
2. Stop Wasting Time
   
   If your car was limping along on only a couple of cylinders, you’d take it to an auto mechanic and get it fixed. If you’re not attracting as many clients as you’d like, get expert advice. Don’t waste your time and monëy using marketing strategies and tactics that only bring in a trickle of clients.
   
   If you want your marketing to run as well as a new Mercedes, invest in it, tune it up and do the required maintenance. It will get you where want to go in less time.
   
   
3. Prioritize Your Time
   
   Spend your marketing time on the tasks that generate results. Generally, 20% of the marketing tasks that you do generates 80% of your new business. Each week I receive hundreds of emails and dozens of requests for assistance. If I responded to each one I’d be on the phonë all day. By using a qualifying process, I’m able to make fewer calls and get more clients in less time.
   
   Which marketing tasks should you spend the least amount of time working on?
   
   
4. Set Aside Time For Key Marketing Tasks
   
   My weekly newsletter is a vital part of my marketing. Writing requires discipline and hard work. It would be easy to come in to the office and spend my day answering phonë calls, or responding to emails, instead of writing my weekly ezine. If I didn’t set aside each Wednesday morning to put the first draft together, it wouldn’t get done and my business wouldn’t grow.
   
   Which are the most important marketing tasks you should be spending your time on?
   
   Of course the most important task to schedule is the time to plan your week and your day. Turn off the computer and your ph0ne for fifteen minutes to half an hour at the end of each day and take the time to plan your marketing goals and tasks for the next day. When I leave the office with a clear plan for the next day in mind, I can use my evening bike ride to come up with new marketing ideas to help me achieve my daily objectives.
   
   When do you plan your marketing goals and tasks for the week and the day?
   
   Focus your marketing on the tasks that generate new clients and avoid wasting time on unproductive efforts and you’ll find you have more time. Use your newfound time to get even more clients, go home early, get some exercise, spend more time with your family and friends or start work on your next business.
   
   ©In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
   
   The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up for the Frëe Marketing Plan eBook, ’7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business’ at http://www.marketingforsuccess.com
   
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