Marketing needs to be consistent, reliable

By Chris Graham/AFPBusiness.com

Too often in small business we tend to think about our efforts at marketing only when business is slow, as in, Oh, crap, what do we have coming in, we need to do something, fast.

But as we unfortunately are well aware, it doesn’t work that way. You can’t just snap your fingers, send out a newsletter, do a Facebook post, run a business-card ad in the local paper, and get things back on track.

Marketing needs to be a consistent and reliable part of your overall business strategy. Put a plan into motion and follow it, and make sure to have a mechanism in place to follow through even when you’re at your busiest.

The basics of the plan should include:

• Touching base with current and past customers/clients. These, of course, are your biggest fans, and your best source for continued business.
• Efforts to attract new customers/clients are a must. The best time to build on that base of fans is when you think you don’t need to.
• Think ahead to the slow times of year, and plan around them. The slow times can vary from business to business, but you know when they’re coming. Try to build up enough business in the good months to help you sail through the slow ones, or think up ways to drum up business during those slower times to help you slog through.
• Every day, every week. You need to commit time every day to marketing. The best way to do that is to take time every Monday to think through what you need to do, set a plan, and then stick to the daily schedule. This is a must.

Chris Graham is the editor of Augusta Free Press and the president of Augusta Free Press LLC, a full-service marketing and design firm based in Waynesboro, Va., providing web design, graphic design, TV and radio commercial design and placement, and comprehensive marketing campaign services. More online at www.AFPBusiness.com.