I can't stop thinking of a line from a movie as I help my clients build business in a way that is manageable for them.  The line comes from the movie ”City Slickers”. If you remember, Billy Crystal’s character goes on a cattle drive looking for direction at mid-life. On the cattle drive, Curly (Jack Palance) turns to Billy’s character in the saddle and delivers the best answer…holding up his index finger, Curly declares, “one thing”...find that one thing you’re good at and want to do and just do it.

I can’t help but think that that answer, perhaps a “set of things” for you is the best answer for your business.  The fact of the matter is that there are virtually unlimited ways to market your business.  The successful common denominators are consistency and sustainability.  No matter what your business is, if you were to run a billboard campaign for years, you'd bring business in.  Granted, there might very well be better ways, but the element of the prospect getting to know, like and trust you through a billboard ad would take place.

My recommendation is to find a set of things (marketing mix) that reach your prospects in different, impactful ways and that fit your company's time, strengths and interest. Otherwise, you'll start and stop over time and never gain marketing traction.

Are you spreading the company too thin in terms of your marketing efforts?  How effective has it been?

Are you getting enough leads during this economic downturn to survive and flourish? Do you have an active marketing plan in place? Is your sales process in sync with your marketing program?

Most successful businesses utilize good marketing and sales practices cohesively to build business. Is yours? If you're in Atlanta, this is a critically important workshop as we finish up the year and look towards 2010. There are still some seats left, but the event is filling up fast. To register, click here or call 770-475-2799.

He was perhaps the greatest showman and promoter the world has ever seen... Tom Thumb, Dumbo, bearded women, the snake man, etc.  Barnum would find whatever he thought would excite the public.. and he gave it to them with fun and flair.  When he brought the circus to town later in his life, there was so much forward publicity that he rarely had to do any advertising or promoting on his own.  Free advertising, and a lot of it.

Now I would be remiss if I didn't say that he made a large part of his fortune scamming people.  What he did do though is lead people's imagination in ways they had never experienced...and his shows did deliver. 

I honestly think there's an honest little P.T. Barnum in all of us.  A part that has fun promoting our businesses, blowing our own horns with creativity.  I'm sure there are great offerings that you have that your own customers (and even family!) don't know about.  That's a shame.  Find a good ad medium and shout it to the world.  Be honest and have fun...this creative side has never been needed more!

And by the way...the sign that read 'This Way to the Egress'?  Everyone but the English teachers were excited until they were ushered out of the building and learned... Egress is another word for 'Exit'.

This is why I encourage you to take on a mentality that best serves you and the organization.  I'm referring to an "abundance mentality".  You've probably heard of the term before, but I think it's important to review here again as it relates to your business once the necessary defensive measures have been put in place.  And it's one that should be taken on throughout the organization.

An "abundance mentality" looks at how things can be done rather than why they can't be done.  The mentality assumes that things will be done and goals achieved through the single-minded mantra of "where there's a will, there's a way".  Once in this mindset, possibilities and opportunities come into focus and obstacles and problems take a back seat.

The truth of the matter is that when things get really tight, you and the organization frankly don't have the luxury of doubt anymore.  Action in the right areas must be taken and the mentality within the organization must remain positive and goal oriented.  Here are some helpful concepts that make up the abundance mentality-

• "The more we sell, the more there is to sell."
• "If we need to make XX in revenue, then we'll meet it."
• "If we need others' help, then we'll ask for it and get it."
• "If we need money, we'll find the money."
• "If we need people, we'll find the people."
• "If we need ideas, the ideas will come."

The abundance mentality is one we need to get into and stay in through the highs and lows of the business cycle.  What are your thoughts?

Curious yet about Social Media?  If not then you might need to be...because it's a big part of Marketing 2.0 and has quickly become an integral way in which your prospects and customers are now communicating.  John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing and Microsoft Office Live have teamed up to offer the latest strategies and advice on how small businesses and entrepreneurs can utilize social media to connect and expand. 

The collaboration is a free eBook called "Let's Talk, Social Media for Small Business".  It's essentially a playbook on how tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Yelp can help reach and promote to your customer base more effectively. 

Social media marketing is especially relevant right now for two reasons. First, during an economic downturn, small businesses need to save money but continue marketing themselves. Social media marketing is cheap and effective. Secondly, studies show that more and more small businesses are embracing social media. According to a recent study by AMI partners, over the next 12 months about 500,000 small businesses will use social networking as a resource for advertising and promotional activities.

Below is the link to download your copy.  And have fun with these new toys! http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/socialmedia

The art of closing business has always been a critical skill set for successful businesses...perhaps never more important than in a tight economy, where caution and hesitation pervade buyers' thoughts.

If this is a sticking point for you and/or your organization, then let me suggest a great organization that will help turn this around quickly and put you back on track for meeting and exceeding your revenue goals. The Sander Sales Institute (Sales Engine), headed by Atlanta sales trainer Mark McGraw, is a top-notch sales group that can help you turn indecisive prospects into buyers, and even advocates and referrers of your service.

They have a wonderful training venue in Alpharetta with the latest equipment and the best trainers out there. They hold free workshops from time to time, so there's no reason to wait in helping your people learn the most valuable skill there is. Give them a call and sign up for their next training class! You can reach them at 770-475-2799.

Think about when you bought an expensive item, say an automobile (your buying strategy is similar across the board).  How did you go about looking for it?  Did you get on the internet and do research on a number of cars?  Or did you ask your friends or base your decision on what they had?  Or perhaps you just went to the dealership to look at different options.  Maybe it was a combination of a couple of these or others.

Did the decision on what you wanted have to do with what you wanted (American made, blue, SUV) or perhaps what you didn't want (ie. Japanese made, green, convertible)...or again a combination? 

Did the auto you settle on have more to do with how it looked, how the sales rep presented it, or the feeling you got when you were test-driving it... or again a combination of one of these?  If you look back over a few different car buys over you're life, you'll find that the buying strategy was very similar.

The bottom line is that people have different buying strategies.  In order to effectively appeal to your target market, your marketing material needs to appeal to a number of different buying strategies.  This means your copywriting needs to be directed toward those who make decisions on the own as well as those who need external sources (testimonials); folks who base their decisions on visual, kinesthetic, and audio leads; those who like options and those who prefer procedures as well as other criteria.

A good resource for compelling advertising for the different buying strategies that make up your target market is Shelle Rose Charvet's book Words that Change Minds.  I encourage you to pick up a copy.

And growth can occur like that for a while.  But in order to grow effectively beyond a certain point, the owner needs to partner with others he/she trusts.  After all, one party cannot run everything all the time...no man is an island.

My point is this...surround yourself with people you trust who bring value within a specialization such as accounting, legal, operations, marketing, human resources, etc.  Before you get to the point of hiring specialists around you, lean on the SBDC or SCORE or perhaps a management peer group.  Wisdom is a multitude of perspectives.

As I wrote in an earlier post, a new marketing model has emerged! The good news is that it empowers small businesses to compete with the big guys and it provides national and even international exposure as opposed to just local reach. But the biggest advantage I think is that because everything feeds into a central area (website/blog), your marketing can build on itself over time. That is, information like product/service updates, branding elements, blog posts about new promotions, frequently asked questions, etc can just be added to the website or blog and be stored for viewing indefinitely, 24 hours a day! These things are all picked up by the search engines and add visibility points that send potential customers back to the site. In the old model, other than a phone number, there was no central information area. So if someone saw a flyer and didn't want to buy the product/service at that time, then the chance of a sale now or later greatly diminished without a way to communicate in the future.

So what's the drawback to the new model? By far it's the time and attention you'll have to spend on it. It means a lot of writing...copy for the website and landing pages, for emails/enewsletters, blog posts, articles, press releases, tweets, facebook posts, creation of profiles for social media sites, ads, and so on. And it means content creation like for videos, podcasts and audiocasts...all in addition to the traditional marketing activities you're already doing.

It'll require focus and discipline to stay on track as your competitors will be doing the same. You won't have to do everything perfectly (it's tough to do all these things plus manage the business), but ask yourself this question- if you're about to buy something, who are you going to buy from...a company that has a shoddy website (or no site at all) or a company that has a robust, friendly website/blog where buying is easy? The ones that win now and in the future will build a marketing machine that's informative and compelling. If you're not a writer/content creator, then use the resources already in house (marketing person, assistant, etc) to produce the content for you. Or hire someone to manage and produce for you. And start having fun with this new model...sheesh!