DDT: Do, Don't Think. Just market

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Summary: Your marketing supports your business. Stop marketing,
and your business bleeds to death. it doesn't matter what
marketing you do, just market.

Total words: 750

Category: Small Business

DDT: Do, Don't Think. Just market

Copyright (c) 2002 by Angela Booth

You see funny things when you're walking your dog. A couple of
summers ago, late every Sunday afternoon, I'd be out walking my
dog and I'd look up to see a sky-writer.

Puffs and streaks of white smoke against a blue sky spelled out
the name of a local telecommunications company. Every Sunday, for
months.

I wondered what it was costing them, and whether they were
getting results.

Guess not. That winter, the telecom went bust in spectacular
fashion.

Sky-writing's one way to market your business, but what's the
best way? The short answer is that there's no best way. Nothing
works all the time. Some things work sometimes. Many things work
most times. Constant marketing works all the time.

So here are my two rules of marketing:

* it doesn't matter what you do, just do some marketing every
day; and

* watch your mental images, because your images control your
emotions, and your emotions determine how much energy you'll put
into marketing.

=> It doesn't matter how you market

That's a lie. It does matter. If your marketing efforts consist
of expensive advertising and gimmicks like sky-writing, you'd
better have deep pockets.

Ideally, you'll use a mix of paid and free (except for your time,
which is in no way free) marketing tools.

I'm not going to give you a long list of marketing tools. You can
use everything from sky-writing to sticking magnetic letters onto
your car.

(Check out the Marketing Diary in each week's issue of Creative
Small Biz, to see what I'm doing ---
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Creative_Small_Biz/ )

What's important is that you put major time into marketing each
day. This is because the results of your marketing take time to
kick in.

Let's say that you start by sending out a couple of hundred
direct mail letters each week. You combine that with making 30
telemarketing calls to businesses each day.

You're dogged about this. You don't think about it too much, you
just go ahead and do it, because you want your business to be a
success, and it is a business, it's not a hobby.

You plod on. Your business builds. You add more marketing tools.
A small ad in the classifieds section of your daily paper. You
write a talk, full of information for other business owners. You
call local business groups and give your free talk. You network
at these gatherings: you make friends, and hand out business
cards.

What's the result? Hey --- before you know it--- your business is
whizzing along. What did it? Constant, easy-does-it, don't-think-
about-it-just-do-it marketing.

=> Watch your mental images

Who's in your head? Two of you. Your brain has two halves, so
you're two people. Truly. There's the left brain analytical you,
and the right brain creative you.

Your right brain has charge of your subconscious mind. And if you
sabotage yourself, your subconscious is what's doing it.

I found writing exhausting for years. Even thinking about writing
made me tired. I dieted, started new exercise programs, gulped
vitamin pills, got more sleep. Didn't work. I'd finish a few
hours of writing completely worn out.

Then an image formed in my mind. The image of a mountain climber,
toiling up the rocky slope of a steep, ice-covered mountain.

Numb fingers. Aching legs. Deep crevasses on either side of me.

That explained the exhaustion. My subconscious equated writing
with mountain climbing.

So I changed my image of my writer-self. My new image is of a
seed-sower, walking along the rows of a tilled field. The field
has black, rich soil. I scatter handfuls of seeds from a bag as I
stroll along in the warm sun.

This new image makes me feel pleasantly relaxed.

It works. Writing no longer makes me tired. I'm just ambling
along, scattering seeds.

If you find marketing difficult, ask yourself what image you're
holding of marketing.

We all form images via our right brain. The left brain suppresses
them (this takes energy) or puts them into words.

If you ask yourself, you will get an image. If the image is
unproductive, like my mountaineer, change it.

So there you have it. Marketing in a nutshell. Only two things to
monitor: how often you market, and whether you're sabotaging
yourself.

Now stop reading and go market your business!

***Resource box: if using, please include***

Author and copywriter Angela Booth crafts words for your
business. Words to sell, educate or persuade. Contact her today
for a free quote:

http://www.digital-e.biz/

Free ezine: Creative Small Biz --- subscribe at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Creative_Small_Biz/

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