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The best small business marketing advice I learned and fortunately applied was:

Focus, focus, focus… do a few marketing activities very well rather than many poorly!

“Pick and Stick” with a few core marketing activities.

My mantra is to keep it simple as possible. Focus on activities that get results. Then do those activities over and over. Once you can scale up, train other people in your organization to do it or outsource it.

The key is developing an effective system you can repeat over and over.

Once you get very good at doing a few effective marketing activities, by focusing you can excel at those few activities. With a developed system, you become more efficient executing those activities as well.

Too Many Marketing Options Available

You don’t have to search long online to learn there are literally hundreds, probably thousands of ways to market you business. The trouble is, where do you begin?

Not too long ago, with no practical marketing experience, I had to market my business because I was in dire need for customers.

At first I got excited about all the different marketing options available – print, radio, and of course online.

After more research, I made the decision to restrict 90 percent of my advertising budget and efforts to online marketing. I made this decision when my business didn’t have a website.

I also had to make tough decisions about doing only some online marketing activities.

Fast-Forward To Now:

After 2 failed websites and several thousand dollars later, I’ve built a very large web presence that’s working – my business is growing.

Not only do I restrict to Web marketing, but I do very few activities in Web marketing. For example, I don’t bother with Facebook, Twitter, and PPC ads. I’m not saying social media and paid advertising doesn’t work; instead, I focused on a few activities in order to learn and do them well.

Avoiding social media was a strategic decision and not an easy one. Two years ago everyone was talking about Twitter and Facebook as the next huge marketing channel. I’m not saying it doesn’t work. What I’m saying is I only have so much time and money to devote to marketing.

Which Marketing Activities do I Focus On?

I focus on 3 marketing activities – all of which are online:

1. Building huge websites that attract free traffic from the search engines (with blogs built-in); 2. Article publishing 3. List building

Recently, my business partner and I added a 4th, which will roll out in a few months – it’s video marketing.

When you look at my 3 primary marketing activities, they’re related. The content for my websites (notice plural – I’ve built numerous websites for my business) forms the content for publishing articles on EzineArticles.

I build my list by driving people from my articles and attracting people to my site. Everything works together – the videos will plug-in nicely into this marketing funnel.

As I’m putting together phase 1 of my video campaign, I’m using the content on my business websites as the video content. I’m leveraging off existing work.

At the end of the day, my singular online marketing focus is mass-publishing quality content.

The reason mass publishing works so well, is I get to inform my prospective customers about all kinds of matters. I receive a lot of feedback about the content on my sites.

The beauty of the whole this small business marketing advice is I target all that content to specific towns and cities where my prospective customers live. It’s the content PLUS local search seo that attracts a high volume of targeted AND responsive visitors.

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My colleagues in a real estate lead marketing company have been busy doing a lot of different marketing initiatives, and I think I can use their activities to share some fast recommendations on how to get additional real estate listings in a slow market. You may or may not find these recommendations useful. However, I thought it would be appropriate to share.

1) Offer a discount in exchange for a bigger commitment. These days most clients will ask for a discount. Instead of readily handing it over, use discounts as negotiating points for larger commitments. As an example, if you are negotiating a discount for a commission, offer it in exchange for a bigger commitment for initial expenses. If the client is taking your money on the back end, let them pay up-front for some of the marketing expenses.

2) Establish a presence on high traffic sites. In short, if there is buzz online from local media, participate in the fray. For example, if you see a politician making commentary on the recent sub-prime disaster, comment on their site and be sure to include back links with anchor text. Their site may get a lot of traffic and may even improve you page rank.

3) Get social and use numerous media outlets. If you don’t have a YouTube channel, a MySpace page and an account or fan page on Facebook, it is time to jump in. Just to repeat, be where your clients can find you.

4) Move the prospect down the funnel with multiple touches. A lead management company sent me a promotional flyer and sales video to me detailing their offerings and repeating their promotion today. Their promotion funnel is set up so that every time I respond to one of their communications (call, respond to an email, and click on a promotion) I get one or two additional touches with corresponding calls to action. A real estate agent analog would be presenting to a local business group, getting the contact information for all of the attendees and sending out thank you cards with a referral request. Follow that up with an email reminding them of the specific takeaways of your presentation and an additional offer to do business.

5) Include a call to action in your correspondence. There is a simple difference between an email signature that says “Barrett Niehus, REALTOR” and a signature that says “Barrett Niehus, REALTOR, Learn how I can save you $10,000.” A call to action can do a lot to speed a sale.

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This video appears on the Home Page of www.thesmallbusinessmarketingcoach.com, the website created by Alan Stransman, the Founder of one of the first day spas for men in the world. The Small Business Marketing Coach provides advice and assistance on a wide range of Internet Marketing topics and strategies to small business owners, entrepreneurs and solopreneurs.

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John F. Kennedy’s statement “A rising tide lifts all boats” perfectly describes the boom years of the economy. Throughout the ’00s you really didn’t have to do much to have an OK business. But what about in today’s receding tide? Fortunately the recession won’t take all boats down with it — only the leaky ones. Use attraction marketing to build your business, especially in tough times. Start with these three strategies.

#1 – Contact your customers more often.

If you have an email list, contact people at least once a week. Don’t make it just about selling. Your customers also appreciate articles, tips and useful information. Worried that too many emails will cause them to opt out? If your messages are valuable, people appreciate them — except for those who probably were not going to buy anyway. Overall, good email communications strengthen your attraction marketing.

If you have physical addresses, mail a postcard every 4-8 weeks. Promote a customer appreciation sale. Offer a free consultation. Send people to your website for a free special report, an article, a video of you using your product, or a tip sheet.

Set up a regular schedule for Facebook and Twitter. I recommend one Facebook post and 1 Tweet a day to start. Sometimes it’s confusing to begin social networking. Get your bearings by creating accounts and then simply watching for a while. Remember the #1 rule of social networking: it’s not about sales, it’s about relationship. Soon you’ll be comfortable with it.

Perhaps you don’t have a mailing list. Well, start building one now. Without a list you have clipped the wings of attraction marketing. The list is perhaps the greatest asset of any small business. It is irreplaceable. Not sure how to begin? Creating articles – like the one you are reading – is a popular and effective way to start.

#2 – It’s time to shake things up! Look for ways to innovate in all your offerings – and add more value while you do it.

If you’re a coach, add teleseminars or digital products to your offerings. If you sell products, add coaching or training that helps people use what you sell. If you offer a service, such as pet-siting or office cleaning, create a tip sheet or simple newsletter. When you stand out from the crowd you’re attractive to customers – in any economy.

Also look for ways to leverage relationships with other business owners. In the brick-and-mortar world, complementary businesses often team up. For example, your wine shop might offer tastings with cheese and crackers from the gourmet store down the block. My life partner’s art print and poster store sells framing and has the work done by a framer in another part of town.

Online businesses can also use leverage. I created an audio set on Law of Attraction marketing from a series of interviews with other attraction marketing experts. It only took 6 interviews to create a product. Everyone who participated in the interviews promoted the product to our mailing lists. Talk about the power of leverage! Make a list of experts you could interview to create a valuable collection of interviews your customers would want to own.

#3 – Promote with personality! As a small business owner you don’t have to behave like a multinational corporation. What a relief! You can be quirky and still remain business-like. Why not let customers know that the local animal shelter is your top charity or that your favorite hobby is restoring antique furniture. Tell them that you love to take your Honda Gold Wing on weekend trips. Write about your kids, your vacation, your home town, your talking parrot.

In every marketing promotion, express your passion for your business. Tell people why you’re in this business and how much you care about it. You can also develop short, interesting stories – customers appreciate knowing you, and stories create powerful connections. During a down economy, people seek out friends to do business with. Attraction marketing includes expressing who you are.

Tips: 1) Avoid sharing your views on politics, religion or other potentially controversial areas. 2) Be friendly but also be careful about giving our personal details. 3) Think of personality as a side dish – the main course is always your business, and that’s where to keep the attention of your customers.

Here’s how to take the next step in attraction marketing for small business success Get your free copy of Andrea Conway’s special report Secrets of Attracting Prosperity in Hard Times

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