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SECRETS OF BUILDING AND MAINTAINING MARKETING MOMENTUM By Charlie Cook Some people seem to steadily increase their income while others just make enough to pay the bills. What's the difference between the people who make millions and the people who struggle all their lives to get ahead? If you want to attract more clients in order to build a more profitable business you need three things. You need clear goals, knowledge of how to market your business and a plan of action. Your marketing is like the proverbial three-legged stool. To function effectively, all three legs need to be solidly in place. Without clear goals you won't move forward. Without marketing knowledge you'll waste your time instead of pulling in many more clients. Without a plan of action, your marketing won't get done. Setting Your Marketing Goals Staying on track can be a struggle, whether you are trying to stick to a diet or get your marketing in shape. How can you get started and maintain your marketing momentum? What you need to do is make a commitment to specific marketing goals. Winners set both large and small goals, and they put specific goals in writing. This last task may sound superfluous but it can make a big difference to your success. One of my goals had been to write a book, a task that seemed overwhelming. Of course, no one writes a book all at once, they are written a page at a time. With a short-term goal of writing three to five pages a week, I made steady progress, wrote three books and have outlines for two more. Take a piece of paper or fire up your word processor and make a list of goals for yourself and your business. Include both long and short-term objectives. When you write your objectives where applicable include who, what and when. The easiest way to get started is by beginning with your long-term objectives and then getting more specific. Ask yourself the following questions. - What are your five-year goals for your business? - What are your marketing goals? (They could be skills, knowledge, new prospects or new customers.) Be as specific as possible when answering these questions and defining your goals. For example, you might say, "I want to have published eight training manuals, be earning two thousand dollars a day and working less than 40 hours a week in two years." In addition to setting broad and long-term goals, you need to set small and short-term goals. Define your annual, monthly, weekly and daily goals. Once you've got them down on paper, take a copy and thumb tack it over your desk. - What's a one-month marketing goal you can accomplish? - What's a one-week marketing goal you can accomplish? Some days you'll feel like you're on a treadmill going nowhere and your long-term goals continue to be out of reach. When this happens, try two things. First look at the list of what you've accomplished in the last week, month and year. Second, with your larger goal in mind, circle the next finite and easily completed objective on your list and get going. Every time you complete one of your objectives, no matter how small, you're that much closer to reaching your long-term business goals. If you're writing a book, each page you write puts you that much closer to your goal. - Could you improve your marketing by clarifying your long and short-term marketing goals? When you have clear goals and track your marketing accomplishments, it is easy to stay motivated. As you make progress, revise your goals and you'll continually improve your marketing and be more successful. - 2004 ' In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.