The Mastermind Success Group

The ‘marketing mix' can be defined as the resources and tools you use to create brand awareness, target your market, and promote your brand. Advertising and marketing do go hand in hand, and your small business will benefit from finding just the right balance of media channels and distribution networks. Sound complicated? It isn't when you have a plan!

Your customers are bombarded with advertisements of all types every single day. Think of how many ads cross your path in a given day; from online banners to driving by an outdoor billboard, messages and logos are everywhere. Devising the best marketing campaign for your small business will take some planning and strategy, but your investment will be worthwhile. The five key components of an effective marketing campaign will include:

Choosing two key channelsCreating a memorable messageMaintaining brand consistencyKeeping customers moving through a cycleBecoming familiar from the customer's point of view

Choose just two key channelsMany small businesses make the mistake of advertising anywhere and everywhere. Not only does this lead to ineffective budgeting, but it can wreak havoc on your brand image. If you are starting out, the best way is to focus on just two mediums. This can be one print advertising (e.g. a coupon) and one television commercial that is consistent and rotated for variety. Your new customers will be more likely to identify your brand, and you won't be wasting money on ineffective mediums. As your business grows, you can start to branch out, but two will give you a strong start.

Create a memorable messageYou may need to hire a copywriter for this portion, but you'll definitely want to take time to refine your message. This is usually a combination of your mission statement, a key product or price offer, or a memorable tag line. Whatever this may be, it's important to take the time to make it a memorable, unique, and creative as possible. Remember, you want to be on the top of every customer's mind after they've received your message.

Maintain brand consistencyThis is important for businesses of any size, and when you are starting out, creating, nurturing, and developing your brand image is vital to your long-term success. When customers are receiving direct mail pieces with your logo, and then seeing the same logo on your website, they can easily make the ‘mental connection.' The smoother this connection is, the easier it will be to create future marketing campaigns and strengthen your brand in as many outlets you pursue in the future.

Keep customers moving through the cycleYour sales cycle needs to be outlined in detail before any marketing campaign is initiated. It can be as basic as 2-3 steps, or as involved as 5 or more. This is simply an outline of how a customer is introduced to the idea or concept, and what steps they take to complete the sale. Once you've identified the main areas, you can create a marketing campaign at every single step of the way, ensuring that each customer moves through the cycle in the appropriate amount of time.

Becoming familiar from the customer's point of viewHave you ever felt loyal to a company, simply because they are ‘always there' for you? This is brand familiarity, and you can create this with a high level of customer service at all times. This is difficult for most startups, but once it is initiated effectively, it can lead to lifelong customers, and even better; referrals to their social and business networks!

Not everyone is prepared to be a successful entrepreneur.

In the new book Heart, Smarts, Guts and Luck, two successful venture capitalists and a management consultant surveyed a large number of successful entrepreneurs to uncover what traits they have in common.  One of the traits — guts — particularly hit home with my experience as an entrepreneur and as a teacher of entrepreneurs.

The authors argue, and I agree, that guts is not a trait that you are either born with or not.  Having the guts to be an entrepreneur is something that can be nurtured and developed.  They identify three key elements to developing and nurturing guts in entrepreneurs.

Eighty percent of the successful entrepreneurs in this study said that their entrepreneurial guts were developed through experiences early in their lives.

I can cite several experiences from working in our family businesses that helped to toughen my skin.  One in particular stands out.  When I was in grade school my father partnered in a cleaning products distributorship.

Although I was only eleven, I was eager to become a part of this new venture.  So I decided to sell the product door to door.  My first sales call was to our next door neighbor, who was a good friend of our family.

Rather than pat me on the head and buy some product to be nice, she looked me in the eyes and said, “Tell me why I should spend our hard earned money on this stuff?”

I did not make the sale.  I was left speechless and devastated.  It was a hard lesson that I have carried with me the rest of my life.  Nobody owes you anything in business – it is up to you to earn it.

The second key element for developing guts is training and education that prepares entrepreneurs how to make decisions in complex situations.  We urge every student who comes into our program to start a business while they are in school because this kind of training is so important.  It helps them to gain experience, confidence and learn from their mistakes in a safe environment.  However, I am not one who thinks we should require every student to start a business as many schools are moving toward.  I think that making starting a business an assignment misses a key aspect of developing true entrepreneurial guts – the courage to make the choice and cross the threshold to start a venture.

The final element of developing and nurturing guts is becoming part of a community of entrepreneurs.  By joining an ecosystem of fellow entrepreneurs you gain peer support, wise counsel, and a group who can hold you accountable.  We need to have our entrepreneurial guts reinforced, nurtured, and checked throughout our career.

Having guts to be an entrepreneur does not imply that you take careless risks – quite the contrary.  Having guts to be an entrepreneur means that you are ready through experience to carefully and prudently manage and mitigate the risks that lie ahead.

Not everyone is prepared to be a successful entrepreneur.

In the new book Heart, Smarts, Guts and Luck, two successful venture capitalists and a management consultant surveyed a large number of successful entrepreneurs to uncover what traits they have in common.  One of the traits — guts — particularly hit home with my experience as an entrepreneur and as a teacher of entrepreneurs.

The authors argue, and I agree, that guts is not a trait that you are either born with or not.  Having the guts to be an entrepreneur is something that can be nurtured and developed.  They identify three key elements to developing and nurturing guts in entrepreneurs.

Eighty percent of the successful entrepreneurs in this study said that their entrepreneurial guts were developed through experiences early in their lives.

I can cite several experiences from working in our family businesses that helped to toughen my skin.  One in particular stands out.  When I was in grade school my father partnered in a cleaning products distributorship.

Although I was only eleven, I was eager to become a part of this new venture.  So I decided to sell the product door to door.  My first sales call was to our next door neighbor, who was a good friend of our family.

Rather than pat me on the head and buy some product to be nice, she looked me in the eyes and said, “Tell me why I should spend our hard earned money on this stuff?”

I did not make the sale.  I was left speechless and devastated.  It was a hard lesson that I have carried with me the rest of my life.  Nobody owes you anything in business – it is up to you to earn it.

The second key element for developing guts is training and education that prepares entrepreneurs how to make decisions in complex situations.  We urge every student who comes into our program to start a business while they are in school because this kind of training is so important.  It helps them to gain experience, confidence and learn from their mistakes in a safe environment.  However, I am not one who thinks we should require every student to start a business as many schools are moving toward.  I think that making starting a business an assignment misses a key aspect of developing true entrepreneurial guts – the courage to make the choice and cross the threshold to start a venture.

The final element of developing and nurturing guts is becoming part of a community of entrepreneurs.  By joining an ecosystem of fellow entrepreneurs you gain peer support, wise counsel, and a group who can hold you accountable.  We need to have our entrepreneurial guts reinforced, nurtured, and checked throughout our career.

Having guts to be an entrepreneur does not imply that you take careless risks – quite the contrary.  Having guts to be an entrepreneur means that you are ready through experience to carefully and prudently manage and mitigate the risks that lie ahead.

The word success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.

So let me ask you...

Have you been successful in your business? Do you still feel that you have a purpose you need to fulfill?

In order to be successful, one of the main things you need to do is change your way of thinking.

It's very easy to feel negative about things, especially when you're unsure about something- or things are not going your way. But to remain positve and optimistic requires unwavering faith and determination to achieve the overall goal.

The true road to success is not a narrow path. It requires many turns, having to deal with many detours, roadblocks, and may even require you to go backwards a bit to choose an alternative way. But once you've reached your goal, then all of those obstacles and setbacks will be well worth it. But you MUST stay the course.

The reason so many businesses fail (9 out of 10 within the first five years) is because many don't have the attitude and determination to stay on course regadless of what they go through... so they just give up. Don't allow yourself to give up. Believe in your ability to become successful, imagine yourself being succssful, and surround yourself with others that are either on the road to success, or have become in their business.