Productivity EngineerInternet Marketing Tools to Enhance Your Productivity

Undoubtedly you began this year with some big ideas about what you wanted to accomplish. I know I did!

Perhaps it was the quantity of new clients you wanted to get, or how much money you wanted to make, or how many products you wanted to sell.

In the world of marketing, these “big ideas” are called goals and objectives. And, they are what determine your every move, when it comes to marketing, that is.

If you don’t have a marketing plan or you aren’t familiar with the task, it goes something like this. You establish your vision (that’s where you sit down and picture in your mind what your home business will look like in one year).

If you haven’t tried visioning, try it. It can be VERY powerful. When we work through Step 2 in my 10stepmarketing course, I walk you through a question-and-answer exercise to create your own vision for results.

I encourage you to write your vision down because it’s like a magnet, pulling you toward success. And, it’s great to review it periodically throughout the year to keep it fresh in your mind. (It reminds you WHY you’re working so hard!)

Once you’ve created your vision, write down a few goals (specific things you want to reach) that reflect your vision and write at least one, measurable objective. Measurable means you can easily measure whether you’ve achieved it or not, so think numbers when writing your objective.

For example, “I want 15 new clients by the end of the year.”

Once you have your goals and objective, you can create a plan to attain them. This allows you to focus all your time, energy and money on achieving your goals, and to NOT get distracted by spending time or money on other activities. This is what I LOVE so much about having a plan. It absolutely keeps you on track to results!

So how do you guarantee your achievement?

By checking to see how you are progressing toward your goals and objectives AND by making adjustments as necessary. Yes, it really is that simple, but it does take some discipline.

June is a great month to do a “check-up.” You’re half-way through the year and you’ve given your marketing time to work.

So are you ready to give your business a 6-month “check-up?” so you can get back on the path to results (in case you’ve fallen off?!).

Take my 5-step Business Check-up and see how your organization is doing.

(1) Update your tracking numbers

The best method to know if a marketing activity is working is to track response. I recommend keeping tabs on your tracking on a monthly basis. If you haven’t kept up, update your tracking now.

Create a simple spreadsheet to track the results for each marketing activity you’ve undertaken. For example, number of leads they have produced, or number of new clients or sales generated by each activity.

(2) Evaluate how well each marketing activity is performing

Sit down and review your tracking report. Prioritize your marketing activities, putting the most effective ones at the top of your list and the least effective ones at the bottom.

If you’ve found activities that aren’t producing results, you may want to consider dropping those activities. Make a decision to spend more time, energy or money on the activities that are producing the best results. You may even want to try new activities to replace those you drop.

(3) Check your progress toward your vision and goals

Review your vision and goals. How close are you to achieving them? If you’re at least half-way there, that’s good news! You’re on track and you can probably continue doing what your doing to realize them by years-end.

On the other hand, if you aren’t close to half-way yet, you’ll need to evaluate why and make any necessary changes to your marketing activities, how you’re spending your time, or other aspects of your small business to help get back on track.

(4) Measure your progress toward your objective

If you said you wanted to get 15 new clients this year, how many do you have so far? If you have between 7 and 9, congratulations! You’re on track. And if you continue to do business and market as you have for the past 6 months, you’ll likely accomplish your goal of 15.

If however, you only have 3 or 4 new clients so far, and you don’t have a bunch of prospects in the pipeline, it’s time to re-evaluate your marketing activities. Have you been consistently implementing your plan? Or have you fallen off track a bit? Answer honestly. It’s important to distinguish between marketing that isn’t working and marketing that just isn’t getting done.

Once you determine which is the case for you, you’ll be in better position to make decisions about what you need to do to get back on track toward achieving your objective.

(5) Adjust your marketing accordingly

Once you’ve evaluated your current situation, you’ll need to make some decisions about how to move forward. If you’re on track, then keep on doing what you’re doing.

If you’ve determined that several of your marketing activities simply aren’t generating the results you had hoped for, then consider revising or dropping them from your plan, and trying something new.

If you’ve simply discovered that you haven’t stuck to your marketing plan on a consistent basis, re-commit right now to stay on track.

The good news is, you’ve still got 6 months to realize the achievement you set out to reach. Make changes NOW to guarantee your accomplishment at the end of the year. It’s in your power to attain!

If you don’t have a marketing plan, you’re missing a key ingredient in the accomplishment of your home business. Don’t know how to write one or where to start?

Click Here To Manifest The Life You DeserveLearn More About How To Advance Your Goals Now!

We all know how important it is to focus on what we want.

But what happens when we LOSE focus?

It’s easy to do, isn’t it?

We get distracted. Something captures our interest and diverts our attention away from our chosen objective.

We suffer setbacks. Things don’t work out as planned. Someone lets us down. Circumstances change and good plans go bad.

We get interrupted. An important matter takes precedence-sometimes for long periods of time.

We, or members of our team, get sick or hurt. We don’t have the energy we had before and often find it slow to get back in the game.

These things happen to everyone. And we have to be careful we don’t think we’re being singled out. The “Why is this happening to me?” question gets us nowhere.

We must first recognize that we’ve lost focus. And at the earliest opportunity, we must recommit. We have to get back on the horse we fell off of and ride again.

And this is what separates the winners from the losers.

The loser says it’s too hard. He says it’s not worth the effort. He thinks it’s just “not in the cards” and he quits.

But the winner doesn’t take the setback personally. She dusts herself off and recommits to the plan. She sees the setback as just that-a setback-not a sign that it’s not to be.

What do YOU need to refocus upon? Is it a positive habit? A goal? A toleration you said you’d eliminate?

Revisit your reasons why. Focus on the results you will produce and not on what’s not worked well. Because what you focus on expands.

Today’s a new day. The past is just as historic as if it had happened a thousand years ago. You can’t change what’s happened or not happened. But you CAN recommit. You CAN refocus.

You can start anew.

So do it today. Remember the power of TNT-Today, Not Tomorrow.

Michael Angier is founder and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer) of SuccessNet–a support network helping people and businesses grow and prosper. Get their free Resource Book ($27 value) of products, services and tools for running your business more effectively. And most of the over 150 resources are FREE to access and use. http://SuccessNetResources.com http://SuccessNet.org