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If you work on developing a
marketing habit -- and the proper marketing mindset -- every day,
you'll find that you're going above and beyond your
"three-to-five-things" limit. You'll find yourself talking and
thinking in terms of headlines or talking, listening and thinking in
terms of your customers and prospects' benefits. And the more you
think marketing, the greater the chance you'll accomplish your
marketing and overall business goals.
Many business owners,
professionals and organizations are sometimes challenged when it
comes to finding three-to-five marketing tasks to do every single
day. Just remember, these activities don't have to be elaborate,
they don't have to be long and drawn out, and they don't have to
take up much time.
To get your habit started and
to help with your marketing mindset, here are the types of
activities you can employ each and every day before your
non-marketing, daily work activities begin:
- Hand write a thank-you note
to a prospect or customer
- Enter customer or prospect names into a database
- Brainstorm tagline ideas
- Visit a competitor's website
- Write an article to pitch your local business organization
- Make a list of press release ideas
- Write a press release
- Call a newspaper and ask who the feature editor is for your area
of expertise
- Compose an e-mail sales letter
- Call a few prospects or customers to get their e-mail contact
information
- Develop a series of survey questions
- Brainstorm advertising concepts
- Write a pitch letter to a radio or TV station
- Get contact information from media outlets
- Plan a renaming of your products
- Work on new product development and introduction ideas
- Invite a customer or prospect to your office for coffee or to
discuss new ideas
- Recognize a special prospect or customer
- Discuss a fusion marketing idea with a strategic business partner
- Visit a few marketing-related websites
- Post new information on your website
- Plan your networking calendar for the week
- Call to follow up with networking contacts
- Get price estimates for the printing and mailing of your
direct-mail campaign
- Mail samples of your product to top prospects
- Brainstorm ideas for an "enter to win" contest
- Plan a new customer service activity that will truly delight your
customers
- Develop your benefit list and compare it to your competitions'
- Develop a checklist, top-ten list or other information as a
response to a marketing hook
If you're still challenged with
finding the right activities, break your marketing down into these
general categories: Direct Mail, Networking, Publicity, Advertising,
Fusion, Planning, New Products and Services, Marketing Communication
Materials, and so on. Then concentrate on thinking up activities for
one area at a time. No one is really counting your "three-to-five"
things. The point is to do something related to marketing every day
to help you think about marketing all the time.
Obviously some of these activities
will take longer than just a few minutes -- it's OK if they consume
your whole day. Although your goal to accomplish three to five
things related to marketing every day, on some days, you may only
get one or two: on other days, you may get on a roll and do five to
seven things. Don't get married to the numbers.
The purpose of all this activity is to
help you develop a marketing habit and to move your marketing
efforts to the next step in your plan fulfillment. And even if you
planned out your activities for the day, don't be surprised if at
times your progress, responses and results dictate the direction of
your activity -- and get you moving in a different direction than
what you'd planned. Generally, this is a very positive thing, and
you should let the activity guide you and keep the habit going.
No matter how much or how little you
accomplish, the point is to get started. Because three weeks full of
non-marketing activities quickly becomes a non-marketing habit, and
that is a sure recipe for business failure.
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