Six Key Steps to Success …

Managing your business is always a challenging task.  Whether your most pressing issues are personnel, work-in-process, client concerns, vendor relations, or finances, it seems like there is always something that keeps your schedule full, right?  With all of these consuming functional areas of your day-to-day work, marketing can often be set aside until you “have some time to do it” which often is far too little time needed to do it right.

Neglecting marketing can dramatically affect your business’s revenues.  Recently, I met with a client who confessed that the above scenario was directly on-point to his business’s situation.  The business had been very busy for months but failed to do any marketing.  As a result, revenues had not only flat-lined but unless something changed quickly, he was going to face financial cutbacks.

Likely you’ve heard the same story from your colleagues, some of whom had to “close shop” or join another business in order to survive.  You know that you need to avoid this scenario but aren’t sure exactly what to do to stay out of it. So, what marketing steps can your business do to help make it a success?

1. Make marketing a top priority

Marketing is your business’s lifeline to survival; without it, a business will likely eventually shrink and die. Through marketing, your business can reach new clients and achieve additional revenues from existing and previous clients. Realize that marketing is an investment, not just an expense.  Commit to doing it regularly.

2. Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan

Most businesses that have long-term success take the time to plan.  It is important to realize that there is no such thing as an effective “canned marketing program” for all businesses.  A successful business will have a “Strategic Marketing Plan” writ­ten specifically for its unique parameters.  Hire a marketing consultant with strong credentials to research and prepare your plan.  If you don’t, you’ll likely end up wasting time and money.

3. Allocate a committed budget to marketing

For market­ing programs to be consistent and objective-oriented, they require an estab­lished budget.  Discretionary bud­gets are devastating to the effectiveness of any marketing program.  Don’t cut your marketing budget — let your competition cut theirs.  If your competitors cut back, your “share of market voice” grows even stronger.

4. Maintain consistency in marketing

Marketing pro­grams should be consistent, year-round efforts because “stop-and-go” marketing always bring mixed results.  This can be particularly difficult for smaller businesses, since those attorneys involved in marketing activities also have significant client obligations.  However, it is crucial to have consistent implementation, since this will maximize your efficiency and effectiveness.  It is also easier to rate the productiveness of an activity if it is carried through to completion.

5. Outsource Your Marketing to Experts

Consider outsourcing your marketing needs to highly-qualified businesses who are knowledgeable, efficient and productive.  At Exemplar Digital Marketing, we offer a “Part-Time Director of MarketingTM“ service” which allows outsourcing of all your marketing needs, avoiding the fixed payroll expense yet providing highly experienced, specialized strategic and implementation assistance.

6. Add Value

Take the time to understand what your targeted market wants and then make the extra effort to exceed their expectations.  Whenever possible, try to sell based on value, not price.  Clients and prospects always want to know what your business can do to help them be successful, so going beyond the “business as usual” approach will be appreciated – and may result in increased billings from existing clients and referrals to new clients.

Create Success for Your Business!

For many businesses, it pays to bring in a marketing expert to help. At Exemplar Digital Marketing, our services are designed to help improve your marketing success.  Contact Exemplar to discuss your marketing needs.