the glory of committment

well, here i am, 2 months since my last blog posting doing EXACTLY what i tell all my clients NOT to do. what is that advice all about?

well, once you create a marketing plan, whether for print or web-based initiatives, you need to STICK WITH IT to make it work. do not just abandon an initiative after a few days, weeks (or blog entries!) just because it's not producing the leads you had hoped for. as a small business, you should be creating a plan that looks out for the next 6 months (or one season if you are seasonal) and forecasts your goals and what you need to do to achieve them.

from there, you need to start and CONTINUE working toward those goals so that they can be achieved. an example close to home... if you really want to connect with your customers, try using a blog or email newsletter. collect names, write content and create a schedule for sending or posting that information on a regular basis. now, if you're like me, you're probably so busy running your business that you can barely think about making extra time to contribute to a new initiative. (hmm. could that be what happened to me last month...and the one before? you bet.)

what you need to remember is that this initiative shouldn't be considered 'extra' time. it needs to be scheduled into your calendar just like a client meeting, sales call or other regular event. your plan will never reach its goals if you don't execute it as it was intended.

now, i'm not saying that you should pour endless hours or sums of your marketing dollars into a plan that is showing no results or is an obvious failure. we all try and do make mistakes when we first venture out into a new world, and not all of them will prove bountiful. it's OK to recognize that and modify your marketing plan accordingly. BUT be sure that the initiative really failed DESPITE the effort put in, and not due to a lack of it.

so, here i am in the trenches with you, trying my best to learn from my mistakes and hopefully take the advice i give so often to all of you. i hope you've learned something from my experience (and hey, this blog entry took less than 10 minutes to write, so really, i have no excuse any more!)... i always enjoy learning from you.

until next time (and i promise it won't be so long!)

- maryann