The best place for your business to be positioned is to be business on tips of tongues of people asked to make referral.

THE 300 RULE

Preachers, funeral directors and people in a few other professions have learned "the 300 rule" through their own personal experience.

"The 300 rule" states that average person knows 300 people on a friendly level. Wedding planners tend to make reservations for 300 guests. Funeral directors tend to need to make room for 300 mourners. You get idea.

DOODLING WITH CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE

Imagine your circle of friends, family and acquaintances, a.k.a. your circle of influence. Now, draw your circle of influence as a circle on a blank piece of paper.

Next, contemplate people in your parents' circle of influence. Some people who know your parents also know you. Therefore, you will share some influence with people your folks know. Now draw your parents' circle of influence on your piece of paper.

Your circle and your parents' circle will intersect in one area, although larger majority of two circles will not intersect. If you are like most people, two circles on your page at this point looks very similar to MasterCard logo.

Now imagine drawing a page full of intersecting circles, each circle representing circle of influence of people who are within your own circle of influence. Imagine trying to encapsulate an accurate rendering of where your circle and circle of your friends will actually intersect.

Some circles will share a large area of space, while others will barely cover one another.

THERE ARE NO SIMPLE ANSWERS

The how much to spend and where to spend it questions have no easy answers.

Depending on your type of business, many people suggest that *how much* should be equal to anywhere from 4% to 10% of your gross receipts.

The quandary is that a business cannot survive without a fresh flow of incoming customers. But, a business can seldom generate a fresh stream of customers without spending money to get word out about their business.

THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING

Have you ever paid for advertising and sat back to await fresh flow of customers, only to find yourself sitting and sitting and then sitting some more?

Don’t feel bad about that. It has happened to many of us before.

See, knowing where to spend advertising money is not enough to get job done.

Where to spend money only begins to highlight other issues connected with advertising:

· Marketing Plan · Advertising Strategy · Headlines, Ad Copy and Visual Presentation · Tracking Success of Your Advertising Campaigns

THE MARKETING PLAN

The Marketing Plan is used primarily to identify your own products and services, costs, strengths, weaknesses and strengths and weaknesses of your competitors.

To learn more about constructing your own marketing plan, visit Small Business Administration website for a comprehensive study of elements of a Marketing Plan:

http://www.home-business.com/nav/articles/links/sba_plan.html

ADVERTISING STRATEGY

It is important to understand what you expect to gain from your advertising.

Do you simply wish to get your name known so that when your customer will need you, they will think of you first? Or, do you wish to get your customers in your front door on Saturday?

Do you want your customers to come in and take a look around to discover next object that they cannot live without? Or, do you want them to come in and buy a specific widget?