1) State your Objectives:

Companies usually set objectives in terms of desired profit, total sales, or market share. Profit tends to be most popular company focus. Market share refers to how much of market you snag compared to your competitors. Other objectives can be your total sales, number of loyal customers, or customer satisfaction. Company objectives always provide a time frame and are verifiable which is why objectives are usually stated in percentages and dollar signs.

2) Situation Analysis:

Looks at current business environment and can be elaborate or very simple. The components examined are competition, size of market, types of customers, channels of distribution, and economic conditions. By taking an overview of whole picture and stating your strengths and weaknesses, you'll have a clearer understanding of how well your company will compete.

3) Target Market:

Who are your customers? Your company can't sell to everyone, so you need to decide what part of market segment you're going to serve. A thorough understanding of who your customers are and how to find them are imperative to your company's success. Look at demographics such as how much money they make, where they live, how much education they have, etc.

I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I'm guilty of it in very title of this article.

Here's deal - we sold a high traffic website for $4,000,000. The advertising and marketing budget for site was $0. That's reality. I'll show you how I did this in a moment. In meantime, let's take a sober look at harsh reality of this deal.

"$0 Ad Budget"? Yes. "No Cost"? No Way!

While we paid $0 for advertising per se, what we had to pay in terms of time and effort was great. You, too, should be prepared to sacrifice. You *can* generate great business without an ad budget, but, let's get real - it takes effort.

Marketing on a $0 budget is like North Viet Nam fighting United States: The U.S. had big guns - The Viet Cong had speed and ingenuity. When you're up against companies that have big budgets, you have to out-think them and use your smaller size and agility to your advantage. The problem is, this fast movement takes energy - lots of energy.

I could list thousands of ways this endeavor tried to sap my energy day in and day out. Rather than bore you with minutia, I'll pass on wisdom that allowed me to succeed:

If someone tells you that you are crazy or that you will never succeed, this is big voice in sky telling you that you're on to something big. Sometimes it will seem that you have suffered an irreparable setback. If you're alive enough to think about it, you haven't. "$4,000,000?" Yes. "$4,000,000 in Mark Joyner's Pocket?" Ha. Ha. You Kill Me.

The sale of SearchHound was for $3,000,000 in cash and $1,000,000 in strike warrants. The warrants could end up being worth much more than cash amount - or they could mean nothing at all. I'm focusing in on cash. The company that purchased SearchHound is a fast mover for sure, and if I were an investor, I'd jump in on their IPO moment it hits - but I don't play market. I'm a marketer, pure and simple.

Now, after I pay off our broker, give 1/2 of remaining proceeds to my founding partner (who designed technical back-end), pay tax man, and give a sizeable bonus to my staff (I go to sleep thankful every night that I have them), I'll end up with just over $1,000,000 in my pocket. And then there are those warrants.

So, having a cool million in my pocket after taxes and all is not bad. It's not $4M, though. If you think I should have received more, send me an email and I'll send a reply from my yacht. (I'm kidding about yacht - most of money will go into expansion of my primary business. If you're a competitor, answer is: "yes, you should be afraid - very afraid".)

How I Did It on a $0 Ad Budget

The actual marketing plan itself was very simple. I did not create a standard marketing plan like they teach you in school. Some people swear by them, but I just don't find it necessary (if you think I'm crazy for not using a standard marketing plan, send me an email and I'll send a reply - from my yacht! - OK. OK. I'll stop with yacht jokes).