One of my clients recently told me she was giving up on her business because she just didn't feel good about promoting herself.
No, no, no, no, no! And no! That is NOT what marketing is.
Marketing is talking to other people about THEMSELVES. Well, that's not all there is to it, but basically that's it.
You're also gonna need a plan . Ivette Muller has put together a simple marketing plan that any new Virtual Assistant can follow.
Marketing 101: Have a Plan by Ivette Muller
One of the very fundamental keys to success is marketing is having a plan. You have to know where you are going to determine if you have gotten there, or what you need to do to get there.
In order to have a good marketing plan, you need to know who your target audience is. I have been in some form of direct sales for over 10 years and almost all companies give you a list of everyone and anyone you can sell the products to. They say that everyone can be a customer and give you all the great reasons you should show them your product.
While it is true that almost anyone with a pulse can be customer, that doesn't provide a solid foundation for your marketing efforts. You need to pick one or two target audiences to get started. Once you do that, your target audience will naturally lead you to other potential customers through referrals and guests at their home parties.
No matter what home-based business you choose, you need to know who you are talking to. Who do you want to help with your product or services? Who do you want to share the opportunity with? Who do you want to interact with? Who is your ideal client?
Knowing this information will help you plan your marketing endeavors and your presentations. Remember, presenting your product or service is not a one size fits all approach. That's why knowing your target audience is critical to your marketing success.
Here are 5 steps to get you started on your marketing plan:
1. Pick your target audience - while the information above goes into detail about why you need to pick your target audience, you also need to know how to pick your target audience. You need to be really specific, for example: WAHM, age 25-35, participates in social media. The reason you need to be specific is that it will help you choose your marketing endeavors more wisely. If this was your target audience, you wouldn't place an ad in your local paper - you would advertise on one of the social networks where your ideal customer or client is hanging out.
2. What are your specific goals? It's good to know that you want more sales, leads or recruits. But what exactly is your goal? Do you want $10,000 in sales over the next three months? How about 100 leads in 2 months? Or, 2 recruits in one month? Getting this specific helps you evaluate your performance and gives you ideas on how to change and improve for the next time.
3. What is your promotional vehicle? Decide what your primary focus of advertising and marketing will be. Then, assign some kind of code so that when people contact you, they can give you that code which will tell you how they heard about you. For example, if you place an ad on a website, you could put the code on the ad itself.
4. How will you track? Tracking is a necessary task to determine your effectiveness in marketing. By assigning a code to your advertisements, it will allow you to track where sales, leads and recruits are coming from, as well as allow you to accurately calculate the ROI (return on investment) for that advertisement.
5. What is your budget? Set a budget in advance and stick to it. It is so easy to go over your budget in advertising and marketing expenses when you get caught up in the momentum. That's why tracking is critical to your success so that you can stop advertising or purchasing marketing tools if they are not working. Just because it works for someone else, doesn't mean it's the right thing for you to do.
If you haven't had a detailed marketing plan before, now is a great time to start! Make 2010 the year to pull your marketing efforts together for one productive and profitable year!
Ivette Muller is a proud corporate mom dropout who has enjoyed transitioning her skills as a successful work at home mom. Ivette wants to help others fulfill their dreams of being a WAHM. Visit her website at http://www.wahmbahm.com for business advice and work at home opportunities and, http://www.remembergreetingcards.com/ivette, to learn how to start a profitable custom greeting card and gift, home-based business.
Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com
