8 Steps To Create A Rock Solid Marketing System

Written by Doreen Dilger, The Home Based Business Coach

As a home based business, my budget for marketing has been a strict one.  For those that know me, I am all about promoting my business and helping my clients with implementing simple strategies that are cost effective.  The more you learn about marketing, the better you’re going to become at it - provided you know how to take what you learn and turn it into a system. Every time you do something you will become better if you know how to evaluate success. Here's how to create a rock sold marketing systems.

1. Understand Your Audience – Never think you know your audience enough. As time moves forward your audience changes and becomes more educated. Even if your audience consists of “newbies” to whatever your niche is, the newbies of tomorrow will be more educated than the newbies of today. Keep studying them, and keep getting to know them.

2. Know Your Product Backwards and Forwards – You can’t hope to explain your product if you don’t understand everything there is to know about it.  When someone asks you questions about your product or service you should be ready for an answer that fits the person asking. In this way you can encourage trust in your knowledge and establish your expertise.

3. Create Quality Products and Services – When you know your audience, and your products, you’ll be able to create even more amazing products and services that work together. Plus, you’ll be able to create products you’re proud of and will be willing to yell from the rafters about. The better quality your products, the more easily they will be to market.

4. Automate Strategically – Use technology to automate and make easier the things you do on a regular basis, such as invoicing, billing, shipping, product delivery and so forth. Anything that can be automated for easier delivery and service should be done. Today technology exists for everything you can imagine. Keep abreast of what’s new so you can implement automation that works for your business.

5. Systemize Your Marketing Processes – When you find something that works well, add it to your system. That way, you know in advance what to do for any product launch before you’re even done creating the product. If you have a system that works, keep working it for the best results. Don’t reinvent the wheel each time.

6. Plan in Advance – You’ve heard it before, but here it is again: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Enough said about that. Create a plan and follow the plan, but realize that you can adapt and change plans as you move forward with your marketing efforts or learn new methods or technology.

7. Outsource to Leverage Other People’s Talents – The best way to make your marketing efforts more efficient is to let other people do the things for which you’re not trained or as talented in. If you stick to your efficiencies and let others stick to theirs, you can make your time and money go farther and create a more effective and efficient marketing system.

8. Test and Evaluate – Nothing is done until you’ve run the numbers. Business is about people but it’s also about numbers. In marketing, the results are what count. If you run the numbers you can throw out what doesn’t work, and do more of what does work. That’s the best way to become more efficient.

Creating efficient marketing systems isn’t about being a miser; it’s about finding the best way to market your products and/or services that creates the largest return on investment while also creating the most satisfied customers. A satisfied customer will save you the most time and money in the long run.