Okay, so you don’t have the money to hire a marketing specialist. What business expenses do you have money for? As a business owner/manager, you have the daily challenge of setting financial priorities.

Your business needs customers in order to survive, and if you don’t find them you won’t last. You don’t  need me to tell you this, but unless you have a free and consistent referral system already in place, you need to do effective marketing. Notice, I didn’t say “you need to do marketing” – I said you need to do effective marketing.

Zillions of dollars are wasted spent each year on marketing initiatives that produce little or no results. There are good and not so good marketing strategies and venues. Making the distinction between the two can be difficult. Which initiative? When? Where? How often? For how long?

If these questions baffle you, what are your options?

Today I offer one solution to this dilemma.

If you are short on cash for marketing or believe you have the ability to “Do-it-Yourself” (DIY), I am not going to try to convince you that a marketing specialist is what you need. But I am going to suggest that you do the next best thing – hire a Marketing Coach.

Yeah, you guessed it. I offer that service. Sure, you can pay me to help you, but no matter how you do it, I want you to funnel your marketing funds into resources that are most likely to have an impact.

Many small business owners do not have a particular rhyme or reason for how they spend their marketing dollars. They hear about something; it sounds like a good idea; it’s not too expensive; they shell out the money. They are not sure if it worked or not. Then another marketing avenue presents itself – again, not too costly and sounds reasonable to them. They shell out more money. After a few years these small investments add up to a good chunk of change and no significant results. Sound familiar?

What if you received expert guidance for these decisions or had a big picture, long-term marketing plan?

Nothing’s a sure thing, but…

• A well thought-out marketing plan with sequential step-by-step strategies, with both paid and free initiatives can only help your company
• Feedback and expert suggestions on your web content can only improve your Conversion Rate (number of web visitors who become customers)
• Guidance for marketing decisions can only educate you
• Expert advice can only increase your confidence
• Great marketing ideas that you can implement yourself can pay for the cost of coaching in an instant

Great marketing ideas? Yes. That’s what I get paid for, and coaching is the most cost-effective way for you to tap my brilliant creative mind. No, you won’t likely think of these things yourself. You are not wired or trained to do so. Or if you do, it will be two years from now, and too late for the maximum impact. You can argue with me on this, but I’ve seen your websites – hundreds of them…and if the majority of DIY business owners could think of these ideas, they would have already and would be implementing them on their sites. Some of you are – great work! Most of you aren’t – keep reading. 🙂

I see your websites everyday, and my heart aches when I see the missed opportunities of an ineffective site. It stirs my passion to remake your site. I love this stuff – I wish I didn’t have a mortgage to pay and could do your site makeover for free.

The saddest part is that most of you don’t know who you are. You don’t know how much more effective your websites could be. They look fine to you. Just like a lousy horse looks fine to me.

I can’t tell the difference between an everyday well groomed horse and one that can win the Derby. Sure I can probably recognize a sloped sway back (I even had to look that up), out of shape horse, but I have not been trained to assess the quality of a horse for racing or even everyday riding. I haven’t got a clue. And I wouldn’t consider making a horse-buying decision on my own. I might talk to friends or read up on the subject, but to be honest, my time is precious and I don’t have much to spare for “Horses 101.”

I imagine the same is true for you with marketing. Staying abreast of social media trends and protocol alone, is enough to keep you up way past your bedtime. What I am saying is that if I wanted to buy a horse, I would want an ideal horse that would meet my specific needs. I would want the best value in a horse and wouldn’t want to risk getting the wrong one. Therefore, I would hire a horse-buying expert to handle it for me. I would, of course make the final decision. But I would pay the horse specialist to do all the research and auditioning, then brief me on the top candidates and make recommendations. He or she would be paid for their knowledge and experience and I would gallop off into the sunset with the perfect horse for me.

Enough said – you get the analogy. A Marketing Coach is a cost-effective alternative to doing it on your own, hoping you hit the mark.

Ready to saddle up?