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If you’re like many entrepreneurs, marketing is not one of your fave activities. (In fact, I would bet the only thing you detest more than marketing is sales.)
The problem is if you aren’t regularly marketing your business, your cash flow is also not that regular (and there’s nothing worse than a feast-or-famine business model).
So what can you do? Well, the easiest fix is to start marketing regularly. And the easiest way to start doing THAT is to make marketing a habit. To help you get started I’ve given you 3 marketing habits that are essential to business success:
1. Do 1 lead-generating activity a week. Maybe it’s posting an article to your blog. Maybe you record a video. Maybe someone interviews you to their list. Maybe it’s spending a half-hour on Facebook. Maybe you mix it up and do something different each week. Whatever you decide doesn’t matter as much as doing something.
2. Do 1 nurturing activity to your list each week. This could be anything from sending an ezine or hosting a free call or even just sending your list a few tips or a content-rich video. The idea behind this is to provide content to your list (and by your list, I mean the list of emails you’ve hopefully been collecting at your website).
No one wants to be on an email list and just get constantly sold to. You want to be giving them value and giving them a reason to not just stay on your list but also pay attention to you.
3. Do 1 selling activity each month. Yes I know I just said not to sell constantly to your list, but if you never do any selling than you end up with a list that doesn’t buy from you. You need to balance selling and giving, that’s how you end up with a warm responsive list.
Selling activities include selling your own products, programs or services (for instance launching a new program to your list or maybe doing a quick email-only sale) or offering an affiliate or joint venture product or program to your list. (Affiliate means you offer something to your list and get a commission for each sale you make.)
My suggestion is to balance your own launches with affiliate or joint venture launches. Even though you make more money with your own launches, they’re quite exhausting to do not to mention taxing your list. By mixing it up you can give both yourself and your list a break while still being able to sell.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself “with everything else on my to-do list, how am I possibly going to develop these marketing habits?”
Well, there’s no reason it has to be you personally. You can certainly have your team help. In fact, I would encourage delegating as much as possible. And if you do, then it becomes less a personal habit for you and instead it turns into a habit for your business. (Doesn’t that sound better? Your business has 3 marketing habits that are regularly done regardless of how involved you end up being.)
Now you’re on your way to building a successful, thriving business.
