Do you make your marketing action-oriented?

So many small business owners and professional service providers believe that the purpose of marketing is to 'get your name out there.'

That's a huge waste of time, energy and money. When you're a small business and every penny counts you want your marketing to result in a steady supply of good leads. Getting your name out there or creating brand awareness is a welcome by-product, but it shouldn't be the main focus of your marketing efforts.

This is an important distinction because most small business marketing efforts are focusing on the later, and therefore, are not action-oriented.

Making your marketing action-oriented doesn't mean creating tools (e.g., an ad, flyer, brochure, post card, etc.) that get the sale. Sorry, it doesn't usually work that way. Marketing and selling typically involves a multi-step process because people still buy from those they know, like and trust.

Making your marketing action-oriented means getting those who might have an interest in what you offer to reveal themselves to you by taking action to find out more. The first step is attracting those who have a genuine interest in what you have to offer. Then you follow up with those interested to provide them with more details, information, and education about what you can do for them. As someone continues to show interest you can then make special offers to help them become a client.

So as you're creating any marketing piece, start by being clear what specific action you want a prospect to take when they see your marketing piece. This is called your most desired response.

Make it crystal clear what the one simple action is that you want someone to immediately take when they receive your message. Merely trying to promote a product or service in your marketing piece will get you very little action and rarely any good quality leads that you can begin converting into a client.

What action do you want them to take immediately?

* contact you for a catalog or brochure to learn more
* send in a reply card to receive your free information pack
* go to your web site to learn more and download a copy of your free report
* sign up for your free presentation

If you get a prospect to take immediate action, you can let your follow-up systems kick in and you're one step closer to converting a client.

(c) - Kevin Dervin, KPD Marketing.

About the Author:

Kevin Dervin is the owner of KPD Marketing and creator of the ABCD Growth System. If you find this article useful, you'd probably enjoy Kevin's FREE monthly eZine called ABCD Grow. To subscribe, just go to http://www.ABCDgrowth.com and follow one of the links to the FREE Stuff page!

Source: www.isnare.com