What does all of this have to do with your marketing? Just what is meant by exercising your marketing skills? How can you tone your marketing muscles and become skillful in your marketing techniques?

To begin, lets define exercise. There are three applicable definitions we are going to discuss, taking each one at a time.

1.Repetition of an action so as to develop or maintain one's skill.

Now ask yourself what are some things I can routinely do to sharpen my marketing skills? Just as bodybuilder has a daily regimen of diet and exercise, so, too, should you have a daily regimen of study, and practice. To attain marketing skills it is essential to take in knowledge on a daily basis. Perhaps you only have fifteen minutes each day. The serious bodybuilder understands that even 15 minutes a day of exercise can put him closer toward his fitness goals.

A bodybuilder would never leave his fitness to guesswork. He knows that it is essential to his progress that he learns proper methods of weight lifting. He may even hire a trainer. This will not only ensure his success, but in so doing bodybuilder is reducing risk of pitfalls such as sport injuries. By same token, trainer is able to keep bodybuilder motivated.

It is essential for you to approach marketing training with same discipline. Not only will you more quickly develop marketing skills, but you will be less likely to become weary and unfocused. Make it a practice to learn something new every day. Obtain necessary information from reliable and professional sources to become proficient.

Develop your marketing strength with help of a marketing trainer. While creative thinking is a marvelous tool to be utilized, you also need to seek help from professionals who have already mastered art of marketing.

2...to carry out functions, requirements, or terms of..

Step one in any business plan must include market research, for without it, your business will fail. Too many start up Internet businesses have jumped online without benefit of advantages they would gain as a result of doing market research.

2 Essential Elements of Your Market Research Must Include:

*Knowing who your customer is...this will help you to target your advertising message.

*Knowing who your competitors are....this will help you to obtain a larger market share.

Internet Marketers have a great advantage over brick & mortar businesses, in that they can easily access information they need for market research through search engines.

Keywords and keyword phrases entered into your Internet browser will bring onto your desktop every piece of information you will need to market your product and service effectively on Internet and gain a larger market share.

Here's steps to "market researching" your customers and competitors:

Step 1.... Define Your Customer's Profile

Do not make assumption that your target audience is larger than it really is, this will cost you sales... because you will attract visitors who are not buyers.

Tailor your customers profile to fit your ideal buyers, not "tire kickers" and "freebie addicts"(if freebies are geared towards your product, that's okay).

Create a thumbnail sketch for each segment of your target audience. There is probably more than one type of customer for your product or service, don't leave any one out.

Make a list of what your customers want, what they need, what they can afford to buy, what their sense of urgency is, and what their concerns are.

Write a benefit that your product or service offers for each item on this list.

Now you have ammunition you need for next step.

Step 2.... Choose Keywords and Keyword phrases

Make a list of all keyword and keyword phrases that your customers would use if they wanted to find your product or service on Internet.

With help of Goto.com keyword suggestion list and JimTools' Keyword Research Tool, you can come up with 100's of keywords you may not have thought of otherwise. http://inventory.go2.com/inventory/Search_Suggestion.jhtml http://www.jimtools.com/keywords/index.html

Take your time with this. Put yourself in shoes of your customer... longer your list of keywords, and keyword phrases, greater your chances of gaining a larger market share.

Enter your keywords and keyword phrases into major search engines, and bookmark all web sites that turn up as a result of your searches. Now you know who all your competitors are, and where your customers are hanging out.

Step 3... Analyse your Competition