I was teaching a class on marketing tactics last week to the very talented group of women entrepreneurs in my coaching program. We talked about the complexity of doing business now and how much things have changed – especially in the past year. There is a lot of confusion about what works and what doesn’t work now to attract new clients and grow your business.

I’m hearing from many women that you’re feeling overwhelmed and confused and don’t know what to do next. Social media and the internet have changed the way we build client relationships.

I know that for me, a lot of things that used to work really well for attracting new business, such as publishing a long email newsletter or having a generic marketing message for a wide audience, are not working as effectively now. I’m experimenting with new ways of getting and keeping people’s attention – which is the ultimate goal of all of our promotional activities.

Now is a good time to do a review of all of your marketing activities to see what’s working and what’s not as effective in attracting all the clients and sales you really want. Then, you’ll be able to adjust some of your activities to get better results.

Here’s a quick, 3 step mini marketing audit to help you streamline your marketing tactics to eliminate or modify what’s no longer working, and focus on what you do best:

1. Make a list of all the marketing activities you’re currently doing on a regular basis. You may be writing a newsletter, publishing articles, posting at your blog, networking, giving free talks, speaking, delivering workshops, teleseminars, podcasts, webcasts, or online video and networking online in social networking groups.


2. Put a star beside all the activities you really love doing. If you don’t look forward to sending your newsletter, or if networking feels like a chore, don’t star it. Take an honest look at your list to see what could be eliminated or modified to bring you more joy and better results. The idea is to emphasize what’s working and do more of that, and to stop doing those things you used to love that may not be working as well for you now, and anything that you’re not looking forward to.


3. Now, redo your streamlined list of marketing tactics for the new year and the new economy by eliminating anything that doesn’t have a star beside it. Try to narrow to just three key marketing tactics that you really enjoy doing and that will work most effectively for you. Keep it simple to get better results with less effort.

For me, I have decided that I really like writing and I can dash off a quick list of tips and send it out easily through my email system, post it at my blog, and submit it to article directories. I also love creating and delivering teleseminars and workshops, so I’m doing more of those on the topic I want to be known for, which is teaching service professionals how to add new profit centers to their business through coaching programs and information products. And, I want to create more quick video tips to post at my blog and at social media sites. Those are the strategies I am focusing on this year, and that’s my simplified marketing plan.

After doing your mini marketing audit, make sure you end up with a very short list of tactics and a simple strategy to position yourself to get better known so more clients can find you and hire you.

Focus on what you love doing most, and you’ll have much more joy and many more clients to fill your practice this year.

I invite you to post your thoughts below.

Wishing you much joy and success in 2010,
Jan

P.S. I’m helping women design a simple marketing strategy and choose the most effective tactics to stand out as the service provider of choice in their niche. If you’d like mentoring, masterminding and accountability to grow your business and income, why not join me and this very talented group of women in my Inner Circle? Find out more here about my Inner Circle Program

P.P.S. Watch for an announcement coming soon about more new programs and teleseminars that will teach you how to attract more clients and grow your business.