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Are you a coach or consultant to Solo Entrepreneurs?
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
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We all recognize the importance of having a business plan (even if we haven't yet done one), but do you recognize the value of a good marketing plan? While most marketing plans take up a few pages of the standard business plan, I recommend you take the time to create a dynamic marketing plan if you really want to kick your business into high gear. A good dynamic marketing plan is ...
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Are you providing your market with what it wants? This is key to running a successful solo business - providing the solutions to the problems that your niche are having, and delivering the solutions in a way that they want - not what you think they want! There is a difference! Read this brand-new article where I share with you three simple strategies as to how you can find out this information, and put your market research on autopilot!
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Marketing Planning
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Sales
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Traffic & SEO
Advertising on a budget — Part 1: Using print to drive traffic online
- Michele Pariza Wacek (Michele PW)
There are challenges in marketing of a small business. Read one to find out how one marketing expert helped her client.
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It used to be if you were a small business, you were at a distinct disadvantage with your marketing compared to the bigger companies. No more. Small business owners will actually have an edge over bigger companies thanks to the emerging marketing model. Yes, you heard right. Emerging marketing model. The old ways of marketing are dying. And a new regime is coming of age.
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Wouldn't it be silly to go to your high school prom in sweat pants and Reeboks? With just a little imagination and Yankee ingenuity, we can transfer that analogy over to your internet marketing strategy. It's pretty silly to have a website without the online equivalent of dress/shoes/hair that's going to capture your visitors' attention. So what should you do?
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Are you struggling to find a new twist on advertising or marketing campaigns? If you're a small business owner, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Having to come up with new ideas for a long-term client (or even your own business) can be overwhelming. But never fear. Here are three ways to get those creative juices (and new ideas) flowing.
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Same old same old just doesn't sell anymore. To make your marketing stand out, you need to get creative. Below are five tips designed to get your creative juices flowing.
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It's not your grandfather's communications model. Communications has drastically changed. Target markets are fragmented, customers have more demands on their time and they've learned to shut out the majority of marketing messages out there. The old ways of marketing don't work the way they used to. To succeed in the new communications model, you need every advantage you can find. And that includes harnessing your creativity.
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Speaking to Groups
- Alicia Smith
To market yourself prepare a list of topics that you can speak on with relative ease to groups. Contact local organizations, charitable or for-profit groups and offer yourself as a public speaker for one of their upcoming meetings. Learn how.
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When I first joined Gold's several years ago, I didn't pay much attention to the "muscleheads" - the professional bodybuilders. But I've come to realize they can teach us a lot about marketing and business success. Here are 7 lessons we can all learn from.
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Secrets of Low-Cost Marketing
- Lou Bortone
It's a dilemma that most small businesses and startups face: You must market and advertise, but you're strapped for cash. Fortunately, ideas, energy and imagination can make up for meager marketing budgets. Whether you're an established company or a nascent
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For most small businesses, all marketing is local marketing - as it should be. But even if your company is regional or national in scope, it's a good idea to "go local" to select, targeted communities.
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Articles >
Internet Marketing >
Email Marketing
Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Your 5-Step Internet Sales Cycle
- Alexandria K. Brown
When I meet people and they say they're going to start an "Internet business", I get worried. It's as if that's all they need to know -- not what they're selling or who their customers are. (I mean, when faxes first came out, did you hear people saying they were just starting a "fax business"? Not really.) The Internet is just one type of media that can sell for your business, and it follows a sales cycle like any other. It's not magic ... it's a process. But once you WORK that process, it CAN work like magic! Here's a look at the five basic parts of the Internet sales cycle.
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In 2002 psychologist Daniel Kahneman won the Noble prize in economics for his Prospect Theory. I admire how he has applied psychology principles to business, and would like to share one theory with you: The peak-end rule.
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How can you use the power of metaphors in your marketing? There are several ways. Here are a few.
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
The Psychology of Marketing
- Larina Kase
Marketing is all about psychology—both the psychology of you, the marketer, and your prospect, your potential client or customer. Here are some tips to using the psychology of effective marketing to build your business and improve your customer relationships management.
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Having the right mindset for your marketing can mean the difference between amazingly impactful marketing and marketing that is blasé and falls flat with little to no results. Learn ten marketing mindsets that will help you stay the course and focus, expand past your comfort zone, and keep your energy up so you don't get down on yourself and get frustrated with your marketing before you've given it a chance.
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You see, all marketing plays on either pleasure or pain. But... sometimes "Pain" works better.
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Here are 10 of my favorite ways of building relationships with clients and potential clients and gain more success for your business.
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My mom was visiting recently and during our mother-daughter shopping time I noticed something interesting. Almost all of the stores I made a purchase at asked me if I'd like to get on their mailing list. That's very smart. However, the WAY in which they did this made a big difference in my answer. I said NO to almost all of them because they simply did not make it enticing for me. I mean, who WANTS more junk mail? So if you simply ask me if I'd like to be on your mailing list, the answer will usually be NO. So how do I want to be asked?
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Implement these tips and watch your business soar.
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The “Pie in the Sky” Marketing Tool and method consists of using a combination of four active and four passive marketing techniques to create a very powerful, yet easy-to-implement promotional campaign system. Use this marketing panning tool and watch your income soar!
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Do you have to have everything be perfect BEFORE you get into action. Are you so worried about making a mistake in your marketing that you end up not moving forward. Learn why “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first.”
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Marketing your business doesn't have to be overwhelming. The trick is to create effective marketing rituals that are easy to follow through on each day. Here are six marketing rituals to make sure marketing gets done and you bring in a steady stream of new clients.
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Are you tired of the feast or famine rollercoaster ride? Discover a simple and tasty 3-step formula you can use to boost your business' growth!
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Most solopreneurs have a very limited marketing budget and are constantly looking for inexpensive ways to market their businesses. Public speaking is often free, and usually the group will buy your lunch! Read more to learn how to put together a talk and how to book speaking engagements.
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Articles >
Business Basics >
Business Planning
Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
10 Hot Small Business Trends
- Janis Pettit
The small, solo and micro businesses that jump on these trends quickly will have a real edge over the majority and will create a bigger opportunity for success this year. Look at each of these trends and brainstorm how you could integrate them into your business.
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Learn the top ten ways to increase the number of collaborative interviews you conduct and in turn increase your profits.
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To make it truly effective, your overall marketing objective should be establishing rapport and building a relationship with potential clients until they’re ready to become paying clients. And then continuing to be someone they like and trust so they will buy from you again and again.
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Benefits of Offering Bonuses
- Kendall SummerHawk
Getting something for nothing feels good and smart solopreneurs know that buying decisions are based on emotion. But which bonuses are best to offer and how do you do it on a tight budget?
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Is Your Marketing Time Sacred?
- Kendall SummerHawk
How do you consistently find time to work 'on' your business instead of in it. Employ these simple, effective tips and you'll be on your way.
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Your overall marketing system is probably the most important system in your business and the one that can also be most overlooked (hard to believe, I know, but true).
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Getting clients through speaking engagements is one of the fastest ways to grow your leads list---if you do it right. Banish mediocre speeches with these four uncommon speaking tips to make your speeches both extraordinary, and memorable.
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Marketing your business is one of the biggest challenges for any solopreneur – it’s a task we all find quite daunting, and are simply overwhelmed by all the information that’s available.
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Does it ever feel to you that it's taking forever to see results with your marketing efforts? If so, you're experiencing something called the 'Marketing Flywheel Effect'.
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
7 Questions to Ask Before You Advertise
- Michele Pariza Wacek (Michele PW)
If you're going to advertise, you need to be smart about it -- or you can quickly find yourself with a blown budget and not much to show for it. Here are seven questions to ask yourself before writing out that check.
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In the competitive world of nature, flowers must both attract and reward their insect visitors in order to ensure that the flower’s pollen is distributed. In the garden of business, are you doing these 5 things to both attract and reward your “insect visitors?”
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Your Marketing Soul Plan for 2008
- Kendall SummerHawk
Out with the old, traditional marketing plan, and in with the new Marketing Soul Plan for spicing up your business, and your life in 2008. Discover five key elements for creating your own Soul Marketing Plan.
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Handling emails, filing, problem solving (unless you are solving clients' problems), administrative trivia, surfing the 'net, sorting your Outlook files, paying bills, fiddling with your website, creating brochures... are a waste of time. These tasks don't put women entrepreneurs closest to the money; they pull them away from i
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Playing small with our marketing strategy keeps us feeling small as well. The antidote is to set the marketing strategy bar high, aiming attract dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people, not just one or two. When we stretch ourselves with this type of vision we leapfrog our thinking past its comfort zone, right into the "gulp" zone.
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You can prevent difficult client situations from occurring and minimize those that pop up unexpectedly. Simply watch for the early warning signs and then follow the "Horse Whisperer for Business’ five tips for handling difficult clients with grace and elegance.
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Motivate yourself and others using my direct marketing innovative marketing ideas to get three new clients now!
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Potential clients need to feel that you understand their problems before they can trust any solution you may offer. By selling symptoms, successful entrepreneurs communicate to their prospects that they understand their needs. But jumping in too soon with a solution could blow the sale. Here is the secret to timing a symptom-focused sales message.
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Forget the worrisome over-planning of a traditional “marketing campaign.” Let go of the anxiety created by the check (and re-check) lists of your past. My business coaching clients have implemented this surprising marketing shortcut, and increased the results of their product or service launch.
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Do you often find it difficult to make time for your marketing activities? Or do you find that when you do market, it's not consistent enough to bring you the results you want? Marketing your business is as important as what it is that you do. If you embrace that, you will stop struggling so much and reach a whole other level of success!
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Producing TV Ads
- Lou Bortone
Producing a television ad for your small business can seem a daunting, intimidating and expensive task. Fortunately, with today’s easy access to the tools and technology of TV production, creating a TV spot is well within your reach. Television veteran Lou Bortone explains how to navigate the TV production maze.
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What is it like from a marketing perspective to be yesterday's news? We rely on what is tried and true in marketing because it is usually safe, tried, and tested. This article shows you 15 ways to become a forward thinker and stay in today's news.
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When it comes to marketing you need to be able to come out on top. With more than 3,000 marketing messages pummeling consumers on a daily basis you can not afford to be boring. By using some simple strategies you can add Zest and Appeal to your marketing campaigns.
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Being inconsistent when it comes to marketing your business can be a recipe for disaster. Nothing is more irritating to a potential customer than inconsistency. Here are a few areas to think about to rev up your marketing efforts on a consistent basis.
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Hesitation, when it comes to marketing, can mean the difference between making a sale and walking away empty handed. Consider these areas, examine where you might be hesitating, and think about what opportunities you may be missing because you allow an opportunity to pass you by.
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Marketing Quandaries
- Alicia Smith
Being in a quandary prevents you from moving forward in developing and marketing your business. One of the first things we need to recognize about being in a quandary is that we are, in fact, in one! There are a number of easy, simple things that you can start doing today to get yourself out of that place of being stuck.
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Avoid Being Vague
- Alicia Smith
We are bombarded with thousands of marketing messages daily...on television and the radio, on the internet, in magazines and newspapers, on billboards and other signs, and even at the bottoms and on the backs of receipts. in order to get heard, we need our marketing messages to be clear and concise. To be successful in business, our messages must clearly target a specific audience, explaining to them the features and benefits of our product or service. How can we ensure that our messages are all that they can be?
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As a business owner it is your mission to develop a marketing strategy to offer your potential clients a way to improve their situation, solve a problem, provide more value, or open new opportunities to motivate them to buy from you. These ten powerful tools, taken from The 90 Day Marketing Marathon Blunders from A to Z will support you in creating meaningful connections with your customers and provide real time solutions to challenges of today.
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Taking my struggling consulting business online and following the business model I now do turned everything around for me, financially and otherwise. So when I started hearing from my mentors that I might want to add some offline marketing tactics back into the mix, I was hesitant to say the least.
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Are You Ready to Move 'Up Market'?
- Kendall SummerHawk
Are you working with the same level of client you were a year ago? How about the same type of client as two years ago? If the answer is "yes" then it's time to look at moving "up-market."
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How many times have you heard the same sound bites come out of your mouth to your clients, prospects, and audiences, almost boring yourself to tears in the process? Imagine generating money directly from those sound bites, from those pearls of wisdom that effortlessly trip off your tongue. Yes, it is completely possible, and here�s how to do it.
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Learn how testing is vital in marketing.
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Here are some tips that will help you seriously build your platform.
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Whether you're just getting your business started or you're thinking of a logo facelift, you'll want to consider these tips before you proceed.
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Most of us build our small businesses around a basic talent, skill or passion that we assume will easily make us profitable. Yet our surveys show that attracting new customers is the main area where small and solo business owners (SBO�s) say they need help. Learn more.
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MarketingSherpa's Business Technology Benchmark Guide (published July 2006) brings you the real-life marketing results data, statistics, and practical numbers you need to improve your marketing strategy and results.
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Find out if you are guilty of these four marketing sins?
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The single biggest, non-renewable asset you have is your time. There are only three things you can do with it: waste it, sell it, or invest it. As an entrepreneur or a service professional, what you do with your time acutely impacts how much money you can make. If this year you want to make clients come to you, earn a six figure income, become the expert in your chosen field, positively impact lives of many people, gain fame and earn respect of your peers � you have to invest your time into creating Marketing assets!
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There is really no shortage of new business, there is only a shortage of knowledge how to get this business. Here are a few strategies to get your business buzzing with new customers or clients:
1. Get on the phone!
2. Get out and meet people!
3. Stop competing and start leveraging!
4. Ask for referrals!
5. Crank up your follow-up!
6. Forgive your ex-clients!
7. Catch a COI!
8. Educate, educate, educate!
9. Start thinking strategically!
10. Stop getting and start giving!
11. GET HELP!
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Marketing is more than just one technique. It's about becoming proficient at many little things. Here is my list of a few of those little things. I call them '15 Irrefutable Marketing Proficiencies'.
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Sure-fire 10-step formula to quickly get started as a coach or consultant. And, if you are a well established practitioner, these ten tips may just give you the swift kick in the pants you need to re-invigorate your marketing.
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Develop Your Marketing For Your Potential Clients. Not Yourself. Follow up, Follow Up, Follow Up!
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
Delivering the Ultimate Outcome
- Robert Middleton
Producing consistent results for our clients is really the only way we can justify our existence as Independent professionals. Everything else is missing the point.
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Solopreneurs can get off the feast-or-famine rollercoaster through consistent marketing activities. This article describes an easy-to-follow monthly marketing plan approach.
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In order to get the clients and projects you want, your business must be visible to your Ideal Clients. To become visible, master the following 15 proficiencies.
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Marnie Pehrson, award winning novelist, and founder of over 10 successful websites and mother of six introduces you to 7 business building strategies that she learned the hard way - she learned these after 13 years of business. She shares these techniques with us and shows us how to avoid the mistakes she made. What does Marnie do now to build her businesses? Some of which are LocateACoach.com, BuildEbooks.com and IdeaMarketers.com - read on to find out.
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Do you struggle each month to round up new clients? Are you able to 'succinctly' say what you do in one sentence? What baby steps can you take today to get more people to do business with you? Read this practical article from a well established author, founder and creator of Idea Marketers, 1Chapter Free, Build E-Books.com, , and mother of six! Yes Marnie Pehrson has the experience and credibility to help you establish yourself too.
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Thinking ahead about packaging can save you time, make you money and relieve frustration in getting your product to market. Retailers want to work with vendors who are reliabe and proactively thinking about how to sell more products. Help make their job easier.
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Attraction marketing is about making a customer for life not just making a sale. People like buying but they hate being sold stuff. Attraction marketing is based on alignment with Universal law and the principles of positive energy not on struggle, lack, and resistance. When using the principals of attraction marketing you are leading not selling. Learn 7 tips that will get you ready to put attraction marketing into action.
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When running a small business it is very important to lay out a plan of where your business is, what would you like to bring to the world through your business, where you want to take it and plan the best way to get there.
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Are you trying to be perfect? Trying to plan everything ahead? Standing in your own way? STOP. Learn what to do instead!
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You can be the greatest at what you do, but if nobody knows about you, you'll be quickly out of business. As a Solo Entrepreneur, we must shift our thinking to "Marketing is More Important than Mastery." Learn what is needed in your marketing plan to achieve this.
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Leveraging allows you to achieve your desired objectives with more speed and less effort. Read about 3 of the many ways in which you can employ leverage in the running of your business.
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As Solo Entrepreneurs we use two basic strategies for marketing: writing and speaking. Rose Hill explains why it is important to create a list of your 10 Most Important Business Principles (MIBP) and utilize them in your marketing efforts . Without them, she claims your marketing efforts will be too diffuse to really grab the attention of your intended ideal clients.
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Articles >
Marketing Basics >
Marketing Planning
What's Your Marketing Attitude?
- C.J. Hayden
Entrepreneurs pay a lot of attention to the mechanics of marketing and we often discover that their knowledge of marketing techniques is quite good already. What they might lack is the right kind of marketing attitude.
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10 things you can learn about running your small business from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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Learn - and eliminate - the 5 most common marketing errors that solo-entrepreneurs make.
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Effective Solo Entrepreneur marketing is not an activity to be done in spurts, it should be constantly happening in your business. If we think of marketing as an engine, it needs to be ticking over steadily at all times. A quiet spell now often signals a lack of marketing six or nine months ago.
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