A marketing plan outlines the basics for how you want to market your business. Your marketing plan helps you establish, direct and coordinate your marketing efforts. It’s your roadmap for success. Your marketing plan allows you to understand your customer base, better determine exactly how products or services will benefit those clients, and create a plan to market to those clients. Below are tips to get you started creating a marketing plan that will help you grow your business effectively:

1. Outline your marketing goals. Make sure to include any research or information that supports your marketing plan. For example, keep a notebook that has all applicable keywords, research for new sites to connect with, and business contacts.

2. Outline a specific time frame for completion of your goals. If you layout a timeline for your goals, you will be much more likely to reach them.

3. Make a list of all of your marketing plans. Each time a new idea comes to you, add it to your list.

4. Plan out your budget. Know how much you have available so that you can be sure to spend it wisely. Be clear here on where you will spend your advertising dollars. Don’t just tell yourself, “I have $XXX for marketing.” Instead, be specific. “I have $100 for paid press releases.” or “I have $40 for a Google Adwords campaign.”

5. Think through how you will handle the clients/customers who respond to your marketing attempts. Too many make this mistake. They market and ask questions later. A client calls and wants additional information on their services and they are like ‘now what do I do.” We want to have you so that when that potential client calls, it runs like clockwork!

6. Make a list of any/all the marketing you’ve done in the past. Note next to each item on the list whether or not the marketing attempt was a success or failure and why. Now with the marketing ideas that worked, make sure to give them priority.

By taking each of these steps you will find yourself well on the path to an effective marketing plan.

Jill Hart, Founder of Christian Work-at-Home Moms http://www.cwahm.com/, (offering mentoring & advice for cwahms) and Diana Ennen, President of Virtual Word Publishing, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com/ (offering PR and marketing assistance) co-wrote So You Want to Be a Work at Home Mom: A Christian’s Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business http://www.soyouwanttobeawahm.com/. Article is free to be reprinted as long as bio remains.

Testimonials are a great way to market your business and service. They give you credibility a third-party endorsement. It is no longer you alone saying that you and your company and products or services are phenomenal it is someone else saying that they are phenomenal! When you place an ad, everyone knows that you have paid for it. It is you tooting your own horn. Much more believable and credible is someone else who is tooting your horn!

Where should you use them? Use testimonials in your marketing materials, use them on your web site, use them in advertisements, use them in your media kits, put them on business cards and make sure to use them in your sales presentations and/or on the telephone as success stories. Use them as often as possible people love to see what other people say, who they are and what their experience was with your service. If possible, follow a current trend of putting a small picture of the person giving the testimonial next to it. This really helps your potential customers feel more comfortable by putting a face to the testimonial.

So, how do you get all of those glowing testimonials from satisfied customers? Simply just ask them. Get in the habit of asking every single satisfied customer for a testimonial. It may take some time to get comfortable with but once you do it will come naturally. Your customer will be pleased you asked them for their viewpoint and likely happy to oblige!

In getting testimonial, there are many ways to get them. Here are a few:

1. Ask your customers to fill out a brief customer satisfaction survey. Leave space for comments at the end. Make sure to also ask at the end of the survey, May we use your name and comments in our marketing materials? Have a space for them to check �yes� or �no, along with their signature. Most people are delighted to have you use their comments!

2. If you use public speaking to increase your visibility and generate leads for your business pass out an evaluation form to your audience. Make sure to ask at the end of the evaluation form, May we use your name and comments in our marketing materials?�Have a space for them to check �yes� or �no, along with their signature. Again, most people are delighted to have you use their comments!

3. Using the satisfied customer’s name greatly increases your credibility. It is far stronger to have an endorsement with a name than without. Use the customer’s name and the company name. Make sure to ask permission to use their name first.

4. Ask your customers to write testimonial letters. Say, I was wondering if you could help me. (People love to help!) Would you write a testimonial letter for me outlining how happy you are with our product/service? (Only ask customers that you are sure are happy!)

5. Offer to write it for them, I know that you are very busy. I’d be more than happy to draft something for you to edit. People do genuinely want to help, and people are also genuinely very busy. This makes it easy for them to help.

6. Every time you complete a project and/or a customer says something positive to you about your product/service, say to them, Would you write that down on your letterhead? It would be a big help to me, and I would use it to market my product/service.

7. Use your testimonials as success stories when speaking with prospects or even customers. This enables you to tell others what you have accomplished for your customers without appearing to brag. The model of a success story is: Your customer had a problem. You fixed it. They are now very happy. Remember to always tell your success story from the customer or prospect’s point of view. That means stick to the benefits that your customers received from your work.

8. On blue days, post your favorite testimonial letters on a bulletin board or clear wall space near where you work. Put the rest into a three-ring binder. Anytime you start to feel blah, read through your letters from all of the people saying how much you have helped them. It will perk you right up!

Sell More Today!
K. Moehr owns Moehr & Associates, a specialty marketing firm for direct sales/small business. Ms. Moehr is author of several marketing books, including the Direct Seller Guide and Top Sellers Tell Direct Sales Professionals Tell How They Achieved BIG Success! www.isellmoretoday.com