a. Marketing success begins with your attitude or your state of mind towards the marketing process. If you think that marketing is difficult and burdensome, that's exactly how it will be to you.

See marketing as a fun thing to do. Believe that your marketing WILL bring you lots of customers. Decide to enjoy the process (you have to do it anyway, so you might as well enjoy it),then go on and have a ball while you're at it!

Remember, by marketing your products and services, you are making people aware of something that could be useful for them. Think of it that way - it may help you stop thinking about how uncomfortable you feel about it.

To do: Check yourself to see how you feel about marketing. If you feel negatively about it, change the thoughts behind the negative feelings into positive thoughts. Write down the positive thoughts and look at your list every day, at least twice a day.

Focus on solving the needs of others through your products or services. Doing so takes the pressure and anxiety off you and helps you enjoy the process.

b. Marketing is something you'll be doing for the rest of your life as a business owner.

As long as you own a business, you'll need to market it. No marketing means no sales. No sales, no business. Even when things are going great, you need to market. That way you'll be safe when things would otherwise be slow-going.

To do: Get the idea of a 'marketing break' out of your head! There is no such thing (unless you decide to stop running your business).

Begin to actively seek out marketing information to help you become good at it.

Here's a paradigm shift for you: the business you're really in is the business of marketing - not the business of Coaching/ Consulting or selling some widget or other.

Become a master marketer and you will always be in business.

c. One of the most important things to remember about marketing strategies is that you need to be consistent in order to see results.

Don't think you can market once in a blue moon and have customers rushing to your door. No matter how great your product or service is, you must market it consistently. Be proactive about it. Go out and get the word out about your business.

Consistently.

Consistent marketing ALWAYS pays off. Sometimes not immediately, but definitely pays off eventually. Lousy marketing done consistently brings better results than excellent marketing done sporadically.

To do: Spend some time each day or week doing something (proactive) to market your business (eg giving out 5 business cards each day, or writing and submitting articles, or attending weekly networking meetings).

d. Find only a few marketing strategies that you enjoy doing, which you've proven to work, and stick to them.

There are so many ways to market your business but you don't need to use all of them! Try various methods, by all means, but stick to just 2 or 3. Remember you do have a business to run, and you want to have time to run it properly.

Important as marketing is, you don't want to spend all your time doing it to the exclusion of other aspects of your business.

To do: Find a few strategies you enjoy doing, and do them consistently.

e. Be clear about your marketing message.

If you're not clear about it then neither will your potential customers be. This is especially true for service business owners. If you're not clear about your message, you won't know where to look for prospects.

You need to know (at least) what exactly you do, who you provide it for and what problems you solve.

To do: Craft a 60-second marketing message that clearly describes what you do, and who you do it for. Make it easy enough for a 12 year old to understand you.

Have a written version and a spoken version.

Begin to test out the spoken version on as many people as will listen to you. Tweak it until it feels just right. Then stick to that 'just-right' version.

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Dr Kem Thompson is a Success Coach, Speaker, Author. She can help you achieve better results at work, business, play, spiritual or in your social life. For resources you can use today to create a better life, sign up for her FREE ezine (and get a thank-you gift)- 'Days of Success' by submitting the form at http://www.successeminars.com/