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Let me get right to the point. The single most powerful small business marketing tool on the planet is a marketing system.

But when I talk about a marketing system I am not referring to those academic exercises found in college marketing books.

A marketing system by my way of thinking is a simple (in many cases one page) document that specifically answers who you are, what you do, who needs it, how you plan to grab them by the throat, when you plan to do it and how you plan to pay for itin a way that everyone in your organization, network, and client base can clearly understand.

So, let’s break it down into some simple steps.

1) Narrow Your Focus - create a description of your ideal client. Describe them as though they are sitting across the desk from your at this moment. Define only the market that you know needs what you offer and values what you have to offer. It is just as important to understand who you don’t want as a client.

2) Find and Communicate Your Core Difference - Even if your make it up, you’ve got to find something that makes your business stand out from the pack. Once you do, you’ve got to build your entire marketing program around this difference. Is it red trucks, is it an unheard of guarantee, is it a very specific market niche. You can’t stand out trying to be all things to all people.

3) Package Your Business - Look for ways to build your unique difference into the experience your client or prospect has with your firm. Everything about your firm should communicate and deliver your unique promise. Package your services as products, communicate your unique process, name your service offerings.

4) Educate - Throw away the sales brochures and create marketing materials and web site content that clearly speaks to your ideal client and gives proof that your indeed uniquely qualified to solve their problems. Create case studies, testimonial sheets, client lists, process description, service descriptions, the story of why you started your business.

5) Install the Lead Generation Trio - Advertising that generates permission, public relations that provide proof and referral systems that guarantee trust. Each of these three lead generating tactics works hand in hand to create a non stop flow of highly qualified leads.

6) Automate and Dominate - Once you start to create a flow of leads let technology do the heavy qualifying and selling for you. Ezines, email, blogs, web sites, white paper delivery, subscription lists - all must be automated in order to most effectively communicate as consistently as is necessary in today’s advertising message onslaught.

7) Live by a Calendar - Create the system and then work the system. Do whatever you must to make sure that you do at least one marketing activity every single day. Create a monthly calendar and give each month a marketing system theme. Get everyone in your organization involved - put the calendar in a very public place.

Copyright 2005 John Jantsch

John Jantsch is a marketing coach and creator of Duct Tape Marketing. You can find out more about the Ultimate Marketing System at: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/Ultimate-Marketing-System.htm

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How important is the layout of a print ad? Well, considering that most small businesses spend the majority of their marketing budget on display ads (aka print ads), the layout is critical. This is especially important because display ads almost never bring the anticipated and much needed results desired by business owners and marketers. There are many “industry secrets” you need to know to get the response you need to make a profit from a display ad.

What does that mean to you? It means if you are going to run an ad in newspapers, magazines, event programs, or anywhere else, you want to know how to maximize your opportunity and investment by designing the ad for maximum response. You also need to know how to place an ad for maximum response.

The following tips will prove VERY valuable to you…

ALWAYS use a dark black thick border around your ad. It will draw the reader’s eye to your ad without the expense of two colors and without paying for larger ads

Whenever possible, on the outside of the thick dark black border, use dashed lines like those typically seen around coupons. At the psychological level, this border implies a value or savings in your display ad.

And speaking of coupons, use a coupon or other direct offer (free special report, free consultation, etc.) in every display ad; this is active, direct marketing - USE IT EVERY TIME!

DON’T LET THE PUBLICATION’S STAFF DESIGN YOUR DISPLAY AD OR WRITE YOUR COPY! Typically they have sales people do this work — and let’s face it, they are sales people, not Brilliant Marketers. Use the ad layout you create in this course.

Commit to running the ad a MINIMUM of seven times - in the same place… and don’t change it up much. That is the most effective way to get the maximum number of new customers and return on your investment. IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO RUN THE DISPLAY AD SEVEN TIMES… DON’T RUN IT AT ALL… use your marketing dollars on other activities.

Although larger ads statistically pull better response rates, if you design your display ad as recommended in this lesson, you can get the higher response rates using the smaller, less expensive ads

Run your ads on the days you are open and/or the days that will target your market; for example, Wednesdays are typically the day food is featured, Monday is sports, and Fridays are entertainment focused

Every ad should contain your benefits and features, a coupon or other direct call to action (yes, I know I am repeating that - but it is important), borders (same), contact information, a map or major crossroads, your URL, headlines, testimonials, picture or graphic (if space allows), and rapport messages

INSIST that you ad is placed in the front section of the newspaper on the right-hand side, on the top half; for the same money this statistically pulls a higher response

Do not use ALL CAPS in your ad; they are hard to read. If you absolutely have - and I mean just have to - use them, do so sparingly

Ads with people in them typically pull a higher readership rate; photographs are statistically more effective than drawings or clipart graphics and photographs of babies pull the absolute highest readership rates

Okay - there you have it… a good number of really valuable tips to immediately improve your response rates when using print (display) ads.

Alex Barrington, author of Brilliant Marketing! specializes in providing micro-businesses and start-ups the most practical, valuable marketing information available. To maximize this opportunity for all, Alex has created The Brilliant Marketing! System; to get a copy of the free ebook by the same title, click into http://www.brilliant-marketing-for-small-business.com/brilliant-marketing-free-download.html

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An effective and compelling way to market your business is through the use of success stories. What exactly is a success story? How does it market my business? How can I get started with my own success stories?

Consider the following:

What exactly is a success story? A success story briefly describes how your business served a client/customer and what results the client/customer achieved. Think of this as a real life example of how your product or service helps customers achieve their goals or solve a problem.

How does it market my business? A compelling success story will include the original client problem or goal, the specific product or service used with the client, and some tangible results that occurred. Prospective customers can better understand what your product or service does and most importantly, see some actual results. This will make it even easier for them to make the “buy” decision.

How can I get started with my own success stories? 3 simple steps will get you started:

1. Write a brief description of your best success story. Include a. Problem or goal b. Solution implemented c. Client testimonial. This can be a few paragraphs at the most.

2. Get permission from the customer to use the success story and testimonial in your promotional materials along with actual company names and contact information. If you don’t have permission, use generic industry categories to describe the company and position names to describe any people that may be involved.

3. Use the success story in the following ways a. Your website b. Your brochure c. Press/News release d. ezine or newsletter e. Article for publication f. Face-to-face exchanges and speeches.

Remember to ask for testimonials with all your clients/customers! Over time you will add new success stories to your portfolio as your business grows and the list of satisfied customers increases. Most satisfied clients are very willing to help in this way. Take a few minutes and add success stories to your marketing toolkit today!

Copyright 2004, Charlotte Farrior

Charlotte Farrior of Coaching Connection (http://www.corporatecoaching101.com) and Founder/Team Member of Solo-E (http://www.Solo-E.com) is a corporate and professional coach. She works with professionals, entrepreneurs, directors, and executives to define and achieve the personal and business goals they set for themselves. She coaches in the areas of goal setting, skill development, priority management and career transitions.

Find more articles like this at http://www.Solo-E.com, the lifestyle-inspired online learning and connection community. Visit now to receive a free copy of our special report, The Four Secrets of Solo Entrepreneur Success, plus a complimentary 30-day membership.

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