Explore the Options from Scott Gardner on Vimeo.
Once you decide to embark on a new or expanded marketing campaign, there are a number of options at your fingertips that you should explore.
marketing
Video – Set A Course Part 02
Set a Course – Part 2 from Scott Gardner on Vimeo.
More about how to decide where you should go, once you decide where your business is.
Video – Set A Course Part 01
Set a Course – 01 from Scott Gardner on Vimeo.
Once you establish your baseline – once you know where your business is now and what types of things you’re doing for marketing – you can begin to establish where you want to go and how you want to get there.
Video – Baseline
Baseline from Scott Gardner on Vimeo.
Before you begin any marketing campaigns, you need to establish a baseline. You need to know where you are now, and what you’re doing.
Use Holidays To Schedule Promotions
A few days ago, I saw a post on social media that people were celebrating National Smile Day. What amazes me is that it was from an author I’m connected with, and she was only mentioning it in passing. Business people are missing out! Nearly every day of the year has some celebration attached to it. Pick a few, and ride their coat tails to a profitable promotion.
Houses Don’t Build Themselves
Let’s say you wanted to build a house. Somehow, you got all the tools and materials to build it dropped on your empty lot. How long until you’d be able to live in it?
Well, that depends. If you hire a team of contractors and laborers, you might be able to move in in just a couple months. If you and a couple buddies work at it during the week, maybe less than a year. If you work on it at night and on weekends, it’s going to take a lot longer. And if you do nothing at all? That’s easy – never.
New Book Coming
I just completed the first draft of my 
next book. I mean like 5 minutes ago! I’m approximately 3 weeks ahead of schedule. ‘scuze me while I bask in the feeling for a few minutes. Projected “publication date” is January 2nd (I think – I don’t have my planner with me), but it will probably be available by mid-November.
This is cool, because the book following that was mostly written but has been – well, let’s call it misplaced. Rather than hunt for the digital files, I will probably re-write it, and the next three weeks will certainly help by giving me extra time. The projected time for that one was February of 2015.
I’ve been thinking about my books for the last few days, since I’ve been listening to the Sell More Books Show podcast. I need to create supporting video content for these as well, and I was thinking about cranking out a book every other month next year. I may not be able to do that if I create the video content myself. I’ll probably have to find at least one virtual assistant, probably more than one.
Considering The Last Thing
We have a client who runs a tiny, local restaurant review site. As you may know, we advise our clients that advertising – paying to put yourself in front of others – should be the last thing they consider when putting together their marketing plans. Not because "it's a rip-off" or some other negative reason, but because there are a ton – hell, two tons of things you can do for free or at minimal cost that will put you in front of your audience before finding a medium and paying them for some space.
But in examining or client's options, we had to agree that is was time to begin to advertise. We wanted to put their web site in front of people in their area who were looking for "restaurant reviews" right now, but we didn't want it to cost an arm and a leg. This is a tiny site, and is still not breaking even. So we went with Google AdWords, and set a daily budget that would barely get you a cup of hot stuff at your favorite coffee house.