Hi,
First off, Happy Holidays to you, your family and friends. As we bring 2009 to a close I want to thank you for being a part of our business whether you just receive this newsletter or you are a long-time SEO client.
As you may have noticed, we have been hard at work getting our website, newsletter and other marketing materials to have a consistent design and message. We have added social media profile links to the top of our web site and to the bottom of each of these newsletters to make it easy for you to connect with us.
I've got lots of good information for you this month so enjoy. If you have any questions about any of the material in this newsletter you can reach me at 1-877-334-8022 or email me at kenpartain@wemakemarketingeasy.com.
Planning Your Marketing Activities for 2010
There is no better time than the present to work on your marketing plan for the upcoming year. I recently found a couple of resources I'd like to share with you.
First, I found a simple, straight-forward Marketing Calendar Template in Excel format on the Brandeo website - http://brandeo.com/2010-marketing-calendar-template-free-download. It includes all the primary marketing activities a small business might engage in along the left column. Across the top are the 12 months of the year broken down into weeks for planning purposes. They have also included a sample month to show you how they intend it to be used. This calendar is made available under a Creative Commons License.
I also found an article on the Entrepreneur website about creating a marketing calendar - http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/guerillamarketing/article193446.html. The instructions provided in this article fit perfectly with the template made available from Brandeo and I think it is a little easier to just mark each activity with an X since you may not know today exactly what you plan to do.
By having each activity marked, you will know, when the time comes, that you need to act in order to have a consistent marketing program in place. More than anything this will keep you focused on doing regular marketing activities throughout the year instead of waiting for a slump in sales and then trying to figure out what to do to make the phone ring.
Setting Goals
Right along with your marketing calendar is the subject of setting goals for your business. In the marketing calendar above there is actually a line at the top for your goals for each week. You can add rows for annual, quarterly and monthly goals.
My goal for 2010 is to add 100 new clients to our roster of satisfied clients. That's two new clients per week with two weeks off for vacation.
I have an even bigger goal, one that has been referred to as a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal, and that is to help 100,000 small business owners market themselves more effectively online.
I realize this may take some time and will require some assistance but I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to realize that goal. You can help! If you like this newsletter please forward it to your business colleagues and associates. If you have been happy with our services, tell a friend and take advantage of our Evergreen Referral Marketing Program.
What are your goals? Are they written down? Have you committed to them?
What I'm Reading
I heard recently that the top Fortune 500 CEO's read an average of four books per week; three business books and one from another category, maybe sailing or cooking or flying or some other hobby they are interested in.
Anyway, I'm not under any illusion that I might read that many books because I just don't read that fast, but another one of my goals for the new year is to read one book a week. As the year goes by I'll share with you what I am reading and what I am learning from each one. Perhaps it will help you grow as well.
In the last few weeks I finished The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott, FREE by Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine, and I am currently reading The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. and William D. Danko, Ph.D.
I bought The Millioniare Next Door back in 1996 when it first came out but never did finish it back then. I am kicking myself in the butt because of it. I guess I just wasn't ready for it then, but I sure wish I had followed tha habits of the people surveyed in this book. I think we would be in a completely different place today if I had.
The New Rules of Marketing & PR is a great book that includes lots of examples of small companies that are using blogs, podcasts, press releases and other tools to connect directly with their target market. It's a great book for any small business.
FREE is a book that I actually got for free just for signing up for something. I'm not sure what it was because I threw away the letter that came with the book right after I opened it. I didn't know I was going to enjoy it as much as I did. The book is about all the different ways companies are offering free products and services to the public and still making plenty of money. Google is the biggest example he uses. They make lots of money from advertising and are able to provide email, rss readers, video hosting, phone calls, word processing and other document software at no charge to the majority of users.
I didn't realize how many different models there were for this type of business, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book and have noticed that I have actually participated in most of the free business models in one way or another. You may realize the same thing too.
December Deals
Through the month of December we are offering no-interest financing on our small business websites. The cost is $995 for a 5-10 page site. Through the end of this month you can get a new site, built on the WordPress platform for just $395 down and six monthly payments of $100.
If you have been thinking of updating your website, now is the time to do it. The sites we build get very good search results and can help improve your online marketing by integrating with your other social media efforts.
If you aren't in need of a new site then please forward this newsletter on to someone you know who could use it.
To your success,
Ken Partain
Ken Partain is a Marketing Consultant who helps small business owners realize their online marketing potential through search engine marketing and search engine optimization. Ken has helped companies in dozens of industries get top search results for their web sites and other online content. Call 1-877-334-8022 today to schedule your free 30-minute consultation.
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