The course is demanding; it requires these coaching students to really make a commitment to building their platform. Over six months they work on creating a brand phrase and identity, creating a branded website, setting up media kits, head shots, developing ezines and blogs, speaker materials and media mailings. The course requires a lot, but it promises a lot, too.

So I find myself speaking to many of my registrants as they make decision whether or not to join program. Some are on fence for technical reasons that are hard to overcome, but many are simply on fence. This is how these conversations go:

ME: "Hi, it's Suzanne calling about Platform Push Coaching Program you were interested in." THEM: (Enthusiastically) Hi Suzanne! ME: So how are your platform building efforts coming? THEM: (Audible groan/sigh/exhalation of breath) Well... (another sigh) .... I don't know.

That audible groan comes up in nearly every phone call. Nearly every one! Rare is person who simply says, "I'm not interested in promoting at moment," or even "I haven't made time to focus on it." Instead, there's just groan.

What that groan says to me is that getting known by public scares them. Even thinking about it makes them feel small and inadequate. And yet they know that they must if they want to reach people they're meant to. So they feel both guilty and annoyed with themselves at same time. (Sound familiar?)

Campaigns for marketing are, in a nutshell, a series of repeat mailings that are strategically planned so that there is maximum benefit (more new customers) for your business.

Nota bene (that means “take note” in Latin – and I do mean take note): If you are not doing repeat mailings then you are flushing money down toilet.

Why is this true? Basically, because people hold onto your postcard for a while. They can hold onto your postcard for six months. They will even hold on to your card for three years. When you repeat your mailings to those same people, your chances of them responding just got greater. Repeat mailings cannot be repeated enough.

A one shot in dark postcard mailing is not going to change your business, your bottom line, your life or your anything.

So, if you are not up to confronting that you need to do a campaign then maybe you shouldn’t be in business. And that may sound harsh – it is harsh. It’s a harsh world. And I want you to succeed in it.

Why do businesses fail in first three years? Because they don’t have enough people paying money to them for their services. The bottom line is, they don’t market – they don’t get people buying their stuff. That’s whole point of marketing.

Yes, some promotion is better than no promotion. But great thing about marketing campaigns is that you will be more able to predict your growth. Your income is dependent upon how much communication you put out on a subject. It’s relative to that.

If you put out a blast of communication you will get inflow - prospects, customers calling or coming in and buying. Yes, once that initial blast goes out you will get some business from referrals…some. But you want that blast repeated over and over and over to get inflow that it will generate consistently. You could almost make a big flow chart of what will happen.

Say you send out 5000 postcards.

Out of that 5000, 150 hang onto your postcard.

Out of that 5000, so many call 1st week.

Out of that 5000, so many call 2nd week.

Out of that 5000, so many call next month.

Out of that 5000, so many call in 6 months.

Out of that 5000, so many never call…

There is a dwindling inflow from that first mailing and therefore can give a false impression of what occurs from one mailing. Someone sends out a postcard and says, “I only got four responses from my mailing!” But there is a whole dynamic that is going on that is continuing from that one mailing way after person who sent mailing expects things to happen. Think about it. Do you jump at every single advertisement that you get bombarded with that you think is a good idea? If you do, you are either a millionaire or broke. But most likely, you see some advertisement that catches your interest and say to yourself that you’d like to check that out some day. Then, you see it again and remember that you wanted to check that out one day. And then, you see it again and this time you decide to check it out. Or you file it away and when you pay off that credit card, you pull out your file and visit that store that advertised rug you wanted to buy for your living room.

Victoria Secret, Ballard Designs – any reputable catalog company will mail you catalogs multiple times! Are you getting picture yet?

You want continuous and consistent growth. So what do you do? Look at this scenario:

What if,

You send out 5000 postcards one week and you have all that going on that I mentioned above.

You send out 5000 next week and you have all that going on that I mentioned above.

You send out 5000 next week and that dwindling flow chart is going on, on each one of those outflows.

What is going to happen? Mmmh, let me see… Eventually it is going to snowball – it’s coming in from all different places!

You are really putting your communication out there consistently in a big way.

And yes, it costs a lot of money to do it. So, FIND THE MONEY. FIND THE MONEY. If you are going to borrow money to do a business, spend that borrowed money on marketing!

This is thing about capital investment – people get money to start their business. They give themselves a nice big salary, they buy really great furniture, computers, a building, and so forth. That’s not where they should be spending their money. They should be spending their money on marketing and promotion and getting their name out there. And then all that money from sales that come in should be spent on upgrading their computer or designing a fabulous office. Then and only then.

Back to campaigns and mailing out boo coo each week. Start with a list and mail to one list one week, another list next week and another list following week. Then you rotate those lists – again. And again. And again. Now you ask - what if you only have one list? You can still rotate one list. And it is always good to put it on a spreadsheet or a flow chart to track what you are doing and what you have already done.