No matter what your industry, who your market is, or what product you offer, your business is a sales and marketing business. Unfortunately a lot of entrepreneurs don’t understand this, and even if they do, they resist it. “I feel like I’m prostituting myself,” was the start of one conversation I had recently with a struggling energy worker. She truly believed that if she marketed her services she was somehow selling her soul to the devil. “No wonder you’re struggling!” I responded. When I told her that marketing was simply ensuring that potential clients knew she existed, she relaxed.
The first place marketing should happen is in your mindset. If you don’t have the right mindset, no matter what skills you learn you likely won’t do very well. Focus on how to find the right market for your product while maintaining top-of-mind awareness. You want to occupy space in your customer’s mind.
A Misconception about Marketing
Many think that sales and marketing has to be pushy. Nothing could be further from the truth. You simply need to make people aware of what you offer and create the opportunity for them to invest in what you offer based on their wants and needs. If you believe in what you do, you owe it to your market to let them know what you offer. To not do this is a disservice to your market.
Primary Reasons People Don’t Succeed at Marketing:
•A misunderstanding of what marketing is and is not
•Fear of the unknown
•Not knowing what to do
•Not knowing who their target market is
•Trying to be all things to all people
•Using a shotgun approach
•Not budgeting for marketing
•Lack of time
•Poor planning
•Being too scattered
•Chasing after the next get-rich-quick scheme
•Trying to do it all themselves
If you want to succeed, there are some “must-knows” in regard to marketing:
• Who your market is
• How to market to them
• What the market perception of you and your business is
• Market trends impacting your industry
• How these components all fit together
Learning this information involves doing a proper analysis of your market, the product you need to create and offer, and the most efficient way to do this to generate high revenue and great profit margins. I’ll show you how to accomplish all of those tasks in future chapters.
If the purpose of your business is to fulfill your life’s work while contributing to the well-being of others, isn’t it time to get serious about doing this? Haven’t you been procrastinating long enough? Isn’t now the time for you to increase your marketing knowledge and your ability to implement this knowledge? Believe it or not, marketing can be fun, fulfilling, uplifting, and impactful. It’s simply a matter of shifting your mindset, actions and focus.
Kathleen Gage: Receive Power Profits 101: Must-Dos in Marketing
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Kathleen works with consciously focused speakers, authors, coaches and consultants helping them to build six figure businesses by packaging their knowledge so they can reach more of their market, impact positive change and create multiple streams of revenue.