The greatest marketing plan in world will not be effective if you have not clearly defined why someone should buy your product or service instead of all other products or services available to them.

If you have not figured out what is unique and better about your product or service, and found a compelling way to communicate this in everything you do, you can market 'til cows come home and you will be wasting your time and your money

10 Tips to Banish Marketing Sabotage

(1) Develop a marketing plan. Make sure you make it your number one priority to develop a marketing plan every year.

(2) Write objectives. Write at least one objective that states what results you would like to achieve with your business over next year. And, write at least one objective for every marketing activity you undertake, that states what results you would like to achieve from that activity over next year.

(3) Stay course. Check in on your progress toward your objectives every three to six months, but give your plan a good nine to 12 months to work.

(4) Determine your unique selling proposition and make sure it is represented clearly and in a compelling way in everything you do.

(5) Don't try to be "everything to everyone." Focus on a few specific benefits and a specific audience.

(6) Track all of your marketing activities so you know exactly what is working and what is not working.

(7) Don't rely on one marketing activity. Employ a mix of several marketing activities to reach more people more times.

(8) Create a system to help you stay on track with your marketing activities every month and to help you plan ahead for future activities.

(9) Create a realistic budget based on a percentage of your projected revenue, or dollars you have available for marketing and stick to it. Marketing is an investment in your business. You have to spend enough to make progress but not more than your business can financially support.

(10) Understand your environment. The economy, competition, strength of your particular industry, your prospects' situation. You have to understand them all so you can create an effective plan to either overcome obstacles or take advantage of opportunities.

Follow these guidelines and your business stands a much greater chance of succeeding. All of these activities are part of a good marketing plan. And no business that wants to succeed should be without one.

(C) Copyright 2005 Debbie LaChusa, 10stepmarketing

The logo/tagline power combo

I love logos and taglines, especially for small business marketers because when you combine a great logo with a great tagline, you have a powerful marketing combo that can communicate a lot in very few words in a very small space.

And, because you can use them on every piece of communication about your business you have opportunity to imprint them into your prospects' minds by repeated exposure that doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

Great taglines are possible on a small budget. Granted we think of big-name advertisers when we think of memorable slogans, but you don't have to spend big bucks to get a great tagline.

The first step is to create a strong, strategic marketing foundation for your product or service. You must also truly understand what is unique and valuable about your product or service. And, you must have a very clear picture of what you want to communicate about your product or service to your prospects. With this information and some creative brainstorming you too can have a memorable tagline.

Once you have one, USE it everywhere!

Include your tagline with your logo on every piece of communication or marketing you put out and you too will be able to create top of mind awareness among your prospects and customers.

Here are answers to Tagline Test:

1) Burger King

2) Gatorade

3) Bounty Paper Towels

4) Nike

5) Visa

6) Volkswagen

7) Federal Express

8) KFC

9) L'Oreal

10)Yellow Pages

How'd you do? Pretty amazing how many of these you knew, isn't it?

For more top-ranked ad slogans, visit www.adslogans.com. It's a great way to see what a good slogan is so you can model yours after success. After all, one of quickest, easiest ways to succeed is to model those who already have.

(C) 2005 Debbie LaChusa