4/21/2005 09:08:00 PM|||Virtual Accuracy|||

De-Mystifying Marketing: 10% of Your Brain Can Mean 100% Growth
by Dale P. Noles

The biggest issue for most small businesses and entrepreneurs is marketing effectively. There are numerous pieces to the marketing puzzle that are seldom utilized and often lay dormant. The main reason for this is the lack of understanding associated with what can actually be done with a small marketing budget.

You may have heard that humans, on average, use only ten percent of their actual brain capacity. There are a handful of people who can tap into much more than what the average Joe or Jane does on a regular basis. Most of them are geniuses in some area or another. Yet, why is this information important to you? Simply put, because you can be capable of so much more, if only you exercise your greatest asset, your brain.

Neuron Workout
Like any muscle, the brain gets stronger when you exercise it. The more you use it, the easier thinking becomes. As a business owner attempting to market your business to your potential client/customer base is as easy as thinking about it. No, I am not saying that just thinking about it will make it happen, but it will help speed the process up.

Get Inside Their Head
Let me explain. If you truly understand whom you are marketing to, you can begin to make decisions that will increase the likelihood of drawing more of your targeted potential clients to your business. The main key is to think in terms of whom it is you are marketing to. What do they like, want, need, desire, experience and how can you “speak” to each one?

Imagine that your business is a coaching practice and your ideal clients are women between the ages of twenty-five and forty, who make an average income between twenty-four to seventy-five thousand dollars per year and juggle a career and a family. You may have ten to fifteen clients throughout the month and your marketing strategy is mostly website visitors who sign up for your on-line newsletter. You may only be spending around two hundred dollars for your monthly marketing, which is not very much.

This example shows very little in the way of creativity. In other words, there was little thought that went into planning a strategy for marketing. How can you break out of this cycle and increase the “traffic” to your practice?

Put Your Money When Your Desire Is
Determine a marketing budget that you can live with if you double your business per month. You might be able to increase your clientele on your current budget, but it would take longer. Am I suggesting that you scrap your newsletter? No. I recommend keeping your newsletter. This marketing tactic can be a phenomenal tool if you have more than six or seven hundred subscribers. But do not let it be your only marketing tool.

Your Well Oiled Machine
In order to be able to handle more clients/customers, you will need to prepare yourself for an increase. What I mean is set up systems that will allow you to grow your business without adding any extra strain. Some examples would include utilizing a system that will handle online transactions, filter your subscribers through your commitment funnel (a system that is described in the book Get Clients Now!: A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals and Consultants, by C. J. Hayden), create forms, write relevant articles, submit articles to on-line and off-line publishers, utilize the expertise of a virtual assistant, etc.

An objection to this could be, “But this is an extra expense.” And you would be correct, at least at first. After these systems are in place, you can begin to focus on growing your practice through other means. The article writing and submission will help get your name out there as an expert on your topic. But do not expect to get instant results using this form of marketing, as this is typically a slow process. But, we strongly recommend it.

Pick Their Brain
To see a boost of clientele, we recommend proactive marketing. Since, you already have a target market; you need to actively seek out ways to attract your ideal client. What works best for your clientele? If you do not know, ask them. Consider only the clients that fit the mold of your ideal client. Ask them what magazines, books or publications they read. Ask them what attracted them to you. How did they find you? What online and offline venues are they actively involved in (Toast Masters, NAWBO, IWMF, etc.)?

Get Your Oxygen Pumping
After you have a strong base of information to work from you will want to exercise your thinking muscle. This is where you will want to get creative. A good way to get creative is to increase the oxygen flow to the brain. There are many ways to achieve this; caffeine (my personal favorite), exercise (like a brisk 10-minute walk, yoga, treadmill, etc.), crossword puzzle, creative writing, etc. I am not endorsing one method over another but merely indicating a way to get the creative juices flowing, you can choose whatever works best for you.

Synapse Power
Once you have stimulated your brain, you should be able to start thinking creatively. Have fun. Start with a question like, if there were no limitations on attracting your ideal clients, what would it be? What other ideas can you think of that will be exciting and enticing to you and your clients? Write them down. Now imagine how to implement one of your ideas. What would it look like? How would it feel? What does it smell like? Utilize your senses and incorporate them into your idea. What can you do today that will help you move toward this goal? Write it down and plan to do it!

The end result will be a fresh approach to attracting your ideal client. This is where your systems can work to your benefit. Incorporate your new idea into your marketing strategy. In the end, if it is exciting to you, there is a good chance that it will be exciting to your potential clients.

© 2005, Virtual Accuracy

About the Author
Dale Noles is the President of Virtual Accuracy, Assistance For Coaches and VA Training. His areas of expertise include complex database creation, marketing, website design and coaching VAs to success. For more information visit www.VirtualAccuracy.com or www.AssistanceForCoaches.com.

This article can be reprinted as long as it is kept intact, about the author is used in its entirety (with hyperlinks) and an email notification is sent to VA@VirtualAccuracy.com.

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