Published:

12/28/2011 07:53pm

How to Market Your Business Consistently to Grow Your Income

Do you find that your marketing efforts are haphazard and all over the place? If so, you're not alone. Consistency is the one area where entrepreneurs often have the most trouble. It's an area to give careful attention though, because in order to grow your business and your income, you need to consistently connect with people who are already looking for what you have to offer. (Really, that's all marketing is.)

Focusing on just a FEW key marketing strategies at a time - and not spreading yourself too thin - is guaranteed to get you the best results. Honing in on these strategies and doing them week in and week out will ensure your target market remembers you are available to serve them and give them an opportunity to purchase what you have to offer.

Even if you are not a structured, scheduled kind of person, you can make improvements in this regard. (Believe me, it takes one to know one...I'm not the most structured person you ever wanted to meet!) Creating consistency with your marketing efforts is as simple as picking two to three strategies, creating systems for them and working your plan each and every day.

Here's a few tips that I you can model for your business to help get your marketing on track and implemented consistently:

• Schedule time for marketing EACH day and EACH week: I know this sounds simple but don't disregard it! You likely have at least one recurring appointment on your calendar each week, whether it is for business or your personal life. You keep that appointment each week because it's important to you and see the benefits of doing so. You need to have the same approach to your marketing. You can't leave it to chance. Even if you just spend 30 minutes a day focusing on taking specific action to grow your business, you will see a significant increase in your profits.

• Do your marketing FIRST thing: How do you start your day? Do you have a habit of starting each day by reading email? Bad idea. That pulls you right into reactive mode; doing what other people need you to do and want you to do. Of course, there is certainly a place for that. You do need to set aside time to respond to the messages you receive. However, you don't have to START your day in that mode. Choose instead to start your day with a marketing activity. Update your blog. Follow-up with prospective clients. Write your email newsletter. Update your social media profiles. Whatever the activity is, you're starting your day focused on growth. You'll start seeing immediate results from your consistent efforts.

• Work your plan: One of the reasons many entrepreneurs struggle with their marketing is because they are trying to do too much and don't know where to start first. When you follow a plan, you'll keep yourself from wasting time and money on strategies that don't fit you. You'll consistently enjoy better results (ie: more profits!) because you are taking focused action.

• Be accountable to yourself: Left to our own devices, NONE of us will stay as focused on our goals as we need to be. We are constantly being inundated with new information, opportunities and distractions each day. And it is very easy to flake out on ourselves. So it's imperative that you create an accountability system for yourself. This is what makes marketing coaching so powerful. You have a mentor, who has already walked in your shoes, to help you strategize, hold your feet to the fire for the promises you make, and help you work through your excuses and eliminate where you stand in your own way. Investing in the right coach is the BEST investment you can make in YOURSELF. When you show up fully and do the work, investing in coaching always, always pays for itself! No entrepreneur should be without a coach or a mentor and that includes you.

You don't have to overhaul your entire operation to get organized and start marketing your business consistently. With a few simple tweaks and consistent effort you WILL get results! Schedule time for marketing each day, start your days off with marketing your business, work your plan and create