Article by REAL Internet And Mobile Marketing

Small Business Internet Marketing Florida – Be Disciplined in your Monitoring Efforts

This article is not about a sure fire way to have a successful marketing plan. Instead this article is about a sure-fire way how not to have a successful marketing plan. Let me explain. There are thousands of different marketing methods, approaches, and strategies available to increase your visibility and credibility in your marketplace. You can develop the best marketing plan and be very confident when it is implemented. What many small business owners overlook are the basics. We get so caught up in the day-to-day challenges of life that we forget those basic elements required in any form of success. If you are successful by forgetting the basics, I call that luck. You can be lucky a few times but eventually it will indeed catch up with you.

Small Business Internet Marketing Florida – The Story of Two Captains

One of the basic elements to success is monitoring your marketing plan. As you recall from the story of the two very different captains of large vessels, the captain who constantly monitored the ships course had the most successful voyage. To read the story copy this link “http://www.rimmllc.com/articles/small-business-internet-marketing-florida-monitoring-marketing-plan-strategies-monitor-analogy”What did the successful captain possess the other captain did not? Discipline is the answer. Both captains experienced numerous storms during the voyage which required much of their attention. Their immediate focus (rightfully so) was on the safety of the passengers, the crew, and the ship. Even though chaos occurred all around, the successful captain had the discipline to constantly monitor the course of the ship. Because of the captain’s discipline, the voyage was considered a success even though it did not go as originally planned.

Small Business Internet Marketing Florida – Discipline

This article is not to discuss what makes up successful monitoring of your marketing plan because there are a lot of smarter people than I who excel in this area. Instead I’m here to remind you that having the best marketing plan doesn’t guarantee success. But what does increase your chances of success or minimize your chances of failure is discipline. Having the discipline to constantly review and evaluate your marketing plan while you experience economic storms is a basic element that cannot be overlooked.In today’s unstable economy, your plan will not proceed 100% as planned. Your customers, competitors, or vendors may change based on the unstable market conditions. Wild fluctuations in today’s stock market tell us challenges are facing us every day. Confronting those challenges and making the necessary adjustments is crucial to your overall success. It is essential a small business owner has the discipline to monitor and evaluate the marketing plan to compete. Discipline as defined in the dictionary is

control gained by enforcing obedience or order orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior self-control Although discipline can have different meanings and usages, it comes down to this. Whether you monitor your marketing plan or not, it is a choice you make. Making the decision to actively monitor your marketing plan is the first step. What follows is a having the discipline to make it happen. However discipline works for you, it is essential you employ those techniques to control your situation.

Small Business Internet Marketing Florida – Monitoring a Lesson Learned

I have firsthand knowledge of this topic. One example is a post card campaign we implemented in our real estate business. I was confident the post card campaign would achieve positive results and we launched the campaign. But as many small business owners can relate to, I fell into the trap of not monitoring the results of the campaign because of the day-to-day chaos of running a small business. The campaign lasted 6 months and I let the campaign run its course without monitoring the situation. A disciplined approach would have discovered earlier the post card campaign was not achieving the desired results. We could have made adjustments or shut it down completely before spending additional funds with limited results. Afterward we discovered the campaign was not successful because, at the time, many other companies were running post card campaigns. The recipients were not paying attention to this type of marketing. Having a disciplined approach would have discovered this much sooner and we could have reacted accordingly.Certainly this is a lessons learned on my behalf and why monitoring is a key part of the Get Started Program. The program provides monitoring reports for a year and we will discuss the results on a monthly basis. We all desire the original plan to proceed as envisioned, but in reality this is hardly the case. Just like the successful captain, making minor or major adjustments to your marketing plan requires a disciplined monitoring approach.

Conclusion – Discipline in your Marketing Plan

If you are a small business or non-profit looking to increase your visibility and credibility then consider the Get Started Program. There is not a better time because we are having a contest until November 21. The fortunate winner will receive the Small Business Get Started Program at no cost. The end of the year is a great time to evaluate your marketing plan, but no matter what plan you choose, make sure disciplined monitoring is part of that plan.