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MAKE A COMMITMENT TO YOUR MARKETING PLAN

Most people who sell a product or service know they have to market. They know they must do something to generate business. Very often, they have excellent marketing plans. They do something really great once or twice. It doesn't work out as they expected. They drop the plan.

What they've done is to put time and money into a plan and lost all that time and money because they did not have a commitment to the marketing plan. They were afraid to stick with it until it paid off.

Consider the following:

1. The first time a man looks at an ad, he doesn't see it.

2. The second time, he doesn't notice it.

3. The third time, he is conscious of its existence.

4. The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it.

5. The fifth time, he reads the ad.

6. The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it.

7. The seventh time, he reads it through and says, "Oh brother!"

8. The eighth time, he says, "Here's that confounded thing again!"

9. The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to anything.

10.The tenth time, he will ask his neighbor if he has tried it.

11.The eleventh time, he wonders how the advertiser makes it pay.

12. The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a good thing.

13. The thirteenth time, he thinks it might be worth something.

14. The fourteenth time, he remembers that he wanted such a thing for a long time.

15. The fifteenth time, he is tantalized because he cannot afford to buy it.

16. The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy it someday.

17. The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum of it.

18. The eighteenth time, he swears at his poverty.

19. The nineteenth time, he counts his money carefully.

20. The twentieth time he sees the ad, he buys the article or instructs his wife to do so.

Please forgive (as I had to) the sexist language. But you see, the above was written by Thomas Smith in London in 1885. I present it here to show you that advertising (marketing) has not changed.

The more your prospects see your name the more business you'll get as a result. They may tire of your name. For example, I have advertising all over the place. I know that some people wonder if all I do is market myself. "Has she nothing else to do?" they must wonder.

However, my marketing pays off. It did not, however, happen overnight. It did not happen as a result of one ad or one mailing. It happened because of a commitment to my marketing plan. I see it through and work it daily. So should you.

Make a marketing schedule. Make a marketing plan. Plan your schedule one year in advance. Know how much you can and will invest in marketing. Notice I said "invest" because marketing is not spending it is investing. When you get results from something it is investing. If you're committed you'll get results.

The more people see your name the more familiar they become with you; the more comfortable they feel toward you; the more apt they are to eventually do business with you. You become a known quantity in their lives. They won't remember the other guys who are not as aggressive. They *will* remember you.

People will begin to feel confident about you.

A good marketing plan takes patience. You must do things that impresse people. You must be different, try new things, be creative.

Your mailings, your ads, your radio spots, everything you use to market must be unique. They must be professional because they represent you. They're the *only* chance you have to find new clients.

So don't worry if a marketing plan is slow to take off. If it's a good plan to start with, if it's professional and suited to your business, it WILL work! Give it time. If you do, your plan will pay big dividends in return for you investment of time and money.

It may take twenty times for a prospect to respond...like it did the man in the above story. But one thing is for sure...you'll get the business. Your competition won't.