Step 1 of 3 for Inbound Internet Marketing

THINK.

“If I had an hour to save the world I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute finding solutions.”  ~Albert Einstein 

I am a planner, it is a requirement in the job description of every mom, wife, business owner, and farmer. Before you plant that garden- you need a strategy to map out what you will plant where and how it will work together.

Marketing and sales is a system and a process. Before you can take action, you have to know what action to take. And if you want the best results, if you want ANY results, there are some questions that need answers.

Some considerations to think about:

• What are my goals? How do those goals break down yearly, monthly, weekly, daily? What needs to happen at those intervals to get where I want to be, when I want to be there?
• Do I have the resources in skills, people, process to reach those goals?
• Who is my best customer? What do they care about, what motivates them, how do they describe their need, where will they look for it, how will they make a decision?
• What approach will my customer take when looking for what I have to offer? How will they find me? What information do they need to take the next step?
• What are the best tools to implement and measure results?
• How will I measure success? What information do I need in order to understand what is happening, and what decisions will I make based on the information?

The main point here: anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Unfortunately the mistake that many new marketers make with internet marketing is to focus on the latest tactic to 'keep up'. A strategy and a plan keeps you from chasing down the wrong thing. It should be an actionable guide map for today AND tomorrow. Will there be detours? Most likely. Will they paralyze you, will you see them coming? Not without a map and some foresight.

Didn't your mother always tell you to think before you leap? Just be careful of the opposite extreme- thinking so much you never get to the actual do.

Want to make internet marketing simpler in 2011? Need to see real results? Join me for our next webinar and hear some real examples of businesses that have done just that.

Until then, market on my friends.