Stop Buying Marketing Manuals From Gurus!

Why is it that many of us are still looking for a magic formula to market our business?

Time and time again I see people jumping from one marketing material to the other looking for that secret formula that guarantees millions of dollars in online sales.

- Is there really such a thing?

All over the web we come across materials promising extreme success through enormous traffic and increase of sales using special recipes never released before that will guarantee thousands of dollars with minimum effort and sometimes without spending a dime.

All this can be true, however what many of these people who promise you these wonderful opportunities, each time fail to tell you, is that when you buy these products/services you still need to do a lot of work and spend more money to be able to get the full benefit of what you just purchased.

I am not saying the materials are bad, but many of us still like to delude ourselves that we can grow our business to millions over night using the same system others have used.

The reality is that all businesses are unique and there is no one formula that can work for all. That is quite impossible.

There are many factors that contribute to the success of a business, and two very important ones are: Your unique selling proposition and your personality.

What we really need to focus on is our long term goal and to understand the best way to reach that goal.

- The answers are right in front of you.

Sit back today and ask yourself the following questions:

REF1:

1: Why did I choose this line of business?

2: What am I trying to achieve?

3: How much money do I want to make from this venture?

4: What do I expect my business to look like in the next 5 years?

Answering these questions will help you understand your long term goal.

Money alone is not a motivation and also not a reason to go into business. If you're thinking in this direction because of desperation, then you better rethink your strategy, if not you'll be heading for the rocks.

The biggest names in business today are built on passion and a need to fill up a void. Money follows this passion after you create and satisfy want.

- How does this affect your marketing?

Knowing why you are in business and where you want to get to has everything to do with your marketing.

For example: If you decided to go into business to help people loose weight, then it will be easy to identify your target market. Knowing this alone can help you quickly find out where they hang out online and what they need from you now and in the future.

This is already one step closer to a successful business!

Knowing your clients will also determine the evolution of your business. Taking the weight loss industry I mentioned above, you can even narrow your niche by choosing to help people loose weight or even prevent them from putting it back on. You can also diversify to psychology of the overweight man or woman, and how they should deal with society.

As you can see knowing your business well, will also give you a clearer picture of what you need to do to make your business successful.

- So am i saying we should not purchase any marketing help?

On the contrary I really do support the purchase of marketing materials, but only when I know what I am looking to find inside. Do not expect these marketing materials to do the work for you.

Knowledge is power!

You need to constantly educate yourself as much as you can. Read anything related to your business, every chance you get. This will guarantee you are always on top of your game and one step a head of your competition.

Before you decide to purchase any marketing material, you need to first understand what your business is all about, where you want to go with your idea, what kind of image you want to portray, how much you want to get out of the venture and in what time frame you would like to achieve all this. Combine your instincts and passion for your business with the knowledge you require.

Carry out a research online to see if you can get answers from free resources. Only then should you decide to bring out your credit card and pay for anything.

Once again, there is no magic trick that will make you rich overnight, it all depends on how you use the information readily available to make your business grow.

FOLLOW THESE SIMPLE STEPS TO SUCCESS:

1: Take a pen and paper and write out the answers to the questions from
(REF1) above.

2: When you have been able to determine your long term goal in a clearly written form also using figures as a measure of success, then, set a time frame you expect to reach this goal.

3: Now let's break down this long term goal into multiple short term goals. Write on your sheet of paper or use a spread sheet to break down your goals into months at first and then break the months into weeks, then the weeks in days. By doing this you can easily create short term multiple check points to help you measure your success in the long run.

Example: I plan to make my weight loss product the number one name when it comes to weight loss products and programs, and I want to do this within 3 years earning 15 million dollars in total sales.

Taking this very simple example let's now break this down into weeks and even days. For the sake of simplicity I'll just take the monetary value as my end goal, leaving out my goal to become number one.

In three years I want to make $15 million dollars.

Dividing that by 3 means every year I need to make $5 million

Breaking this goal further into months, will mean that each month I need to make approximately $416,667

Breaking this further into weeks will mean I need to make approximately $7,986 each week.

Breaking this further down to days will mean that I need to make approximately $1,141 each day

Now compare $1,141 to $15,000,000, doesn't $1,141 seem an easier target to reach?

4: Look at your target each day and write down what you need to do to achieve this daily goal.

Now that you have broken your long term goal into smaller bits, it will be easier to take these shorter steps, measuring everything as you go along, thereby creating a trend for your business.

Breaking your goals down further into days and even hours, will also allow you to monitor activities closely as a result you can react quickly to market changes when it is required.

SO WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO TO REACH YOUR GOAL?

Here are some questions that come to mind:

- How many sales do you need to make in order to reach this figure?
- How many people do you need to reach weekly/daily in order to achieve this goal?
- What is your conversion ratio?
- What do you need to do to reach these people?
- How much will it cost you to reach your target market?
- What do you need to do to improve your conversion ratio?
- What are the other factors that determine your sales volume (seasonal factors, income etc.)?

Depending on your goal, you will have many more questions to ask.

Your goal should not only be to make money, just like my example above. You can also have goals that are indirectly related to money, something like to become the number one name in your industry. This too can also be broken down into multiple short term goals.

There is always a process you need to follow in order to reach any goal. It's all about taking your proposed final destination in time and identifying the shortest possible route to get there. In a nutshell, you need to find out what it takes for you to get from point A to point B in the shortest possible time, without wasting money.

You can now see that you have been able to clearly identify your goal, breaking it down into smaller time periods so you can easily identify the real questions that determine the route to success of your business. Only then, when you have the right questions, do you seek the answers inside paid materials.

Stop deluding yourself that the marketing materials that promise you millions in online sales are the answers to your question. First look within and find out the right questions to ask, break them down into specifics, and then seek the answers. By doing this, you will change your thinking to success. You will able to create a clear picture of what you really need to do in order to take your business to the level you dreamed of.

About The Author-- Edward Hadome is a rare hybrid, manager, strategist, writer and web developer. His specialty is psychology of online buying behavior. Visit www.4weeksmarketing.net where you can build for free, a real personalized profitable action marketing plan.

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