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Archive for small business marketing

Business Mistakes That Can KILL Your Business

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on January 12, 2019 No Comments

There are 5 big business mistakes you can make that will kill a deal and possibly even do in your business.

When you learn what top business mistakes are you are better able to avoid them and prevent them from happening in your business.  The top five business mistakes that we see are:

  1. Not meeting the client’s expectations

  2. Mishandling a client crisis

  3. Taking on more than you can handle

  4. Putting all your eggs in one basket

  5. Up cash creek without a paddle

Any one or combination of these can not only kill the partnership, but have the ability to take down your company as well. We’re going to take a bit of time to talk about each
one of these, in this lesson we’ll cover the first two.

BIG Business Mistake #1: Not Meeting Client’s Expectations

It’s essential you give your client’s exactly what you promised during the negotiation portion of your relationship. If an event does happen where there is no way to meet the
client’s expectations, not only do you have to find a way to fix the situation, but you also have to find out where it all went wrong.

A couple of things could have contributed to this problem:

  1. Bad salesmanship. This could mean the salesperson was trying too hard to seal
    the deal and didn’t listen to the client’s needs.
  2. Lack of communication. This breakdown occurs between the salesperson and
    your operations department.

In order to avoid these mistakes, you need to put a clear plan of action into place that all of your sales staff needs to follow:

  • Think before you speak.
  • Give yourself a break.
  • Perfect your process.
  • Pre-format over-deliverables.
  • Stay hands-on throughout the entire process.
  • Define success.

BIG Business Mistake #2: Mishandling a Client Crisis

Crisis’ will happen, but how you respond and fix them will define your company and interaction with your clients’. You need to respond quickly and effectively. This will help
you gain even more trust and confidence from your client.

Some simple tips can help you deal with any client crisis:

  • Take responsibility and apologize no matter who is at fault.
  • Act swiftly and effectively.
  • Step in and take control of the situation.
  • Never point fingers or place blame.
  • Stay in constant communication with your client.
  • Stay calm throughout the situation.
  • Keep your eye on the ball.

Now, that you know the top two mistakes you can make to kill a big fish deal, you’ll know better how to avoid making these mistakes in the first place and know how to put a plan of action into place in case of a crisis.

Next time we’ll talk about the 3rd and 4th killer mistake you can make in working with big fish clients.
And the 3rd part of the series — HERE No Cash Flow….

If you need help with any of this, try our FREE Mini Marketing Makeover to get an overview on your marketing strategies and access to real consulting help.

Categories : Business Development
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10 Questions Your Marketing Plan MUST Answer

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on August 17, 2018 No Comments

Your Marketing Plan should answer these 10 Questions!!

Marketing plans are often neglected or ignored by business owners. But putting together a good marketing plan can actually SAVE you thousands and make you even more, because planning keeps you on track and focused.

In putting together a good marketing plan you need to ask yourself and answer ten questions!

1. Who Are YOU?

Part of your marketing plan is a description of your company. This should include your target market, products and services, unique value proposition, and your mission or vision.

And finally – your mission statement – why do you do what you do?  What is at the core of your business?  This is your mission.

2.  How is your business assessed? (check out our business assessment if you haven’t done so already.)

Your marketing plan should include an assessment of your business. A good way to do this is through SWOT analysis. SWOT creates an analysis of your business in terms of four factors – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.  Start off looking at WHAT you do really well….

3.  What are your marketing goals?

Your marketing goals are a subset of your business goals. They outline specific goals you need to achieve on the marketing side of your business in order to reach your overall business goals.

Marketing goals should follow the SMART criteria that we use for business goals.

4. How is your marketing tracked?

No matter how amazing and ambitious your goals sound, if you can’t track them, then you’re just shooting in the dark and won’t know where to shift your efforts with change.

5. What are your 4 P’s?

The 4 P’s are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. We can use the 4 Ps to take a marketing objective and create an actual roadmap of concrete tactics which, once implemented, will help you to attain your business goals.

Product – Your products or services; in other words, what you’re offering.

Price – The price at which you set the product. This price should conform to the market and its expectations.

Place – Where you can put your offer in front of your market. This includes distribution channels and all other factors involved in getting the goods to buyers.

Promotion – How you can promote the product and spread the word.

6. What initiatives do you expect to complete?

From a quarterly perspective, what are the marketing initiatives you hope to achieve this year? What are your goals?

7. What resources are needed for each initiative?

Get clear on what you have and what you need to achieve the goals and initiatives that you set out.

8. What is your marketing budget?

As a general guideline, your marketing budget should be 1% to 10% of sales. Of course, when you’re just starting out, your marketing budget should be whatever you can afford. But if you’re a new business, you should expect to spend closer to 10% than 1% on marketing. You may even want to spend more.  As you are developing your marketing budget you need to look at your costs and fixed expenses. Do NOT spend your future revenue.  Spend only money that you have.  Be conservative.

9. What are your ongoing activities: blogging, social media, advertising, email.

Don’t forget to consider your ongoing marketing activities that run throughout the year. These activities still need to be planned, budgeted and tracked.

10. What is your executive summary?

At the top of your marketing plan should be an executive summary. This is a summary of your entire marketing plan. It spells out the basics and the sections of your plan explain each in detail. The executive summary should be short and concise without any of the minutiae. It should allow the reader to take in the entire plan at a glance.

Although the executive summary goes at the top, it should be the last thing you write. It’s much easier to write a summary of what you’ve already written than what you’re planning to write.

Make sure you have answered the 10 questions with your marketing plan. If you haven’t then rework that marketing plan, chances are it is NOT working for you and is instead working to drain your bank account.  A good marketing plan will give you a day to day action plan for promoting your business effectively.

Learn how to put your marketing plan together. Don’t neglect it and use the hope and winging it strategy. They just do not work!

Marketing Plan

Categories : Business Growth
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Do YOU Have a Marketing Plan OR Are You JUST Winging It?

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on September 14, 2017 No Comments

Are You Winging it? OR Do you have a solid marketing plan?


Do you have a solid business plan? Marketing plan? Strategic plan? Or are you winging it and hoping?

Creating a plan and sticking to it can improve your results. A plan becomes your blueprint for success. We most often see small businesses winging it, because business development is not their knowledge base. They are wonderful at their craft, but creating a plan and living that plan is not in their ‘wheel-house’.

Developing solid strategies and tracking those strategies gives you the real world information that you need to move your business forward in a predictable and reliable way.

This is especially true for your marketing. You need to have a Marketing Plan….

Marketing isn’t simple. To do it right, it requires a great deal of planning. Small businesses without massive marketing budgets have to handle this aspect of their business themselves or outsource in an affordable way. To do this effectively, either way it should be part of YOUR plan and not just a hope.

This is why businesses create a marketing plan. A marketing plan is a detailed document that includes the data you need to make marketing decisions and set a course of action that you can implement immediately. Drafting a marketing plan takes a great deal of time and work, but in the end, the benefits to having a plan are worth the effort that you have put into it.

Here are a few questions to get you started.

Who Is Your Target Market?

If you’re already selling, take a look at your existing customers. Who are they? What do they like about your company’s products? Try to recall any positive feedback you’ve gotten from them. Naturally, if your brand resonates with these individuals, it will resonate with others like them.

It sounds simple but so many business owners tell us that EVERYONE is their ideal customer or ANYONE is their ideal. Defining your true customers is an exercise that is worth your time. It directly IMPACTS your marketing strategies and tactics.

If you don’t already have customers, defining your target market may take a bit more work. Look at companies that offer similar products to yours. Who is buying from them? Who could benefit from your products? Try doing some market research to glean some idea of who your target market is.d

What Makes Your Products or Services Unique? Why You? How Do You Stand Out?

There are bound to be other companies out there selling goods or services similar to yours. So, what makes yours different? Why would someone buy from you and not another company? Think about it for yourself, why do you buy from one company instead of another? Is it the product or the customer service, the location? There is always something that causes the person to hit that BUY button.

If the unique qualities of your products don’t come to mind immediately, some work needs to be done. Do some soul searching and look for the strengths of your products. Write down everything that you love about your product/service. Include what you have heard from your customers.

If, in the end, you find that your product unfortunately resembles basically everything else on the market, how can you differentiate it to make it unique?

What Do You Want Your Marketing to Achieve?

Every business takes for granted that it needs to market, but why? The ‘why’ is critical. You need to identify exactly what you hope to achieve through your marketing because this will guide all of your efforts and help you choose which tactics are most appropriate.

Are you trying to build your email list?
Do you want buyers directly on your website?
Is your marketing for new leads?
WHAT is a critical question.

Once you know who your target market is, what’s unique about your product or service, and what you want to get out of your marketing efforts, you’re ready to get started with your marketing plan.

Winging it in business is most often not a good strategy. Spending money on marketing with HOPE that it will work is a waste of money. If you are like most small businesses you do not have money to waste.

Learn more about creating your marketing plan with our new report….3 Keys to Marketing Success

  • How to guarantee that all your marketing is focused in the right direction….and you’re NOT wasting valuable time
  • What 4 things every marketing professional thinks about BEFORE doing anything
  • The most important part of any marketing efforts, no matter how big or small your company is
  • The action steps you can take RIGHT NOW to make your marketing pay off

Check it out here: CompassRoseConsulting.com/3Keys

Categories : Business Growth, Marketing, Marketing Plan
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Creating Your Marketing Plan

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on August 9, 2017 No Comments

marketing planHow to Plan Your Marketing Successfully

Marketing isn’t simple. To do it right, it requires a great deal of planning. Small businesses without massive marketing budgets have to handle this aspect of their business themselves and for many this is no easy task.

This is why businesses create a marketing plan. A marketing plan is a detailed document that includes the data you need to make marketing decisions and set a course of action that you can implement immediately. Drafting a marketing plan takes a great deal of time and work, but here are a few questions to get you started.

Who Is Your Target Market?

If you’re already selling, take a look at your existing customers. Who are they? What do they like about your company’s products? Try to recall any positive feedback you’ve gotten from them. Naturally, if your brand resonates with these individuals, it will resonate with others like them.

If you don’t already have customers, defining your target market may take a bit more work. Look at companies that offer similar products to yours. Who is buying from them? Who could benefit from your products? Try doing some market research to glean some idea of who your target market is.

What Makes Your Products Unique?

There are bound to be other companies out there selling goods similar to yours. So, what makes yours different? Why would someone buy from you and not another company? Remember here that ‘products’ actually means your offering, which includes services as well. The term refers to whatever people buy from you.

If the unique qualities of your products don’t come to mind immediately, some work needs to be done. Do some soul searching and look for the strengths of your products. If, in the end, you find that your product unfortunately resembles basically everything else on the market, how can you change it to make it unique?

What Do You Want Your Marketing to Achieve?

Every business takes for granted that it needs to market, but why? The ‘why’ is critical. You need to identify exactly what you hope to achieve through your marketing because this will guide all of your efforts and help you choose which tactics are most appropriate.

Once you know who your target market is, what’s unique about your product or service, and what you want to get out of your marketing efforts, you’re ready to get started with your marketing plan.

Have you checked out our Million Dollar Marketing Plan Webinar??

Categories : Marketing Plan
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Webinar: The Heart in Marketing

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on March 16, 2017 2 Comments

Join me on Tuesday March 21st at 1:00 PM (EST) for Heartfelt Marketing

Spend just 45 minutes with me as we explore key strategies for heartfelt marketing — connecting with your peeps or your tribe or people!!

Register below and I will send you the details!!




If you are like most small business owners that I know, then you find marketing to be one of your biggest challenges. HOW do you get more clients or customers? HOW do you stand out in the crowd of competitors?  HOW can your business succeed in this business environment?

You are NOT alone!! Tuesday we will spend some time exploring 6 strategies that can make a real difference to you!

I am sure that you are using some or maybe even all of these strategies, but are they working?  Are you getting new business leads?  Do you have ANY conversion?  Is it the strategy or is it HOW you are using it?  Is it making sense to your connections?

During the webinar we will be covering — yes, six strategies but we will also be looking at HOW to make them more heartfelt — more engaging.  Connecting with people — PEOPLE directly.

Reserve your seat and join me.  Can’t make it, sign up anyway!! I will get you the replay following the webinar!

Categories : Business Development, Events
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Why Mastermind? Why Join a Bootcamp?

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on February 3, 2016 No Comments

What is in a Boot Camp or a Mastermind that helps your business?

As a CEO or business owner, training, personal development are both important to your success.  Many small business owners try to go it alone, and in that process they miss critical pieces that could have accelerated their success. The input of other people, the ideas, the skills and the resources that are gained from collaborating, masterminding or consulting with other people is what’s truly valuable in a mastermind or bootcamp.

It starts with an expert facilitator, someone that has a great deal of expertise in business and marketing.  They can bring together a group of business owners, even if they are all struggling, the group combined with expertise will provide you with much needed inspiration, personal growth and information.  When all of these combine, it is amazing what results you can generate. It is not just information that we each need. Yes, there is learning and personal growth to do.  But there is also the need for rejuvenation, inspiration and motivation that keep the whole thing moving forward.  Business can be tiring.  When you are working, working, working you fail to take that step back and really LOOK at the business and see what is happening.  You are to deep IN the business.

The mastermind or consultant or both, brings fresh eyes onto the scene that can help you see your business from a new perspective.

businessmastermindMasterminding is in my opinion, one of the most valuable things you can do.  It is the coming together of a group of people to share, listen, learn and grow together.  Often there is an accountability piece that keeps you on track and honest.  (Why can’t we do that for ourselves?) Suddenly the things you had been reaching for over and over again are happening.  But it also brings together years and years of expertise that can shift you and your business.  The ideas that get shared, the input, and feedback and even questions all contribute to you being more successful.

Bootcamp is when you dive deep into a topic and really wrestle with it and master it.  For many business owners, marketing is what they need to wrestle with.  Its something that they don’t do well.  They try but it just doesn’t happen.  Marketing is that thing that you found out you have to do but you didn’t really want to do.  You went bootsinto business because you loved your craft whether it be massage or lawyering or retail or chiropractics or dentistry or…. and you believed that “if you build it they will come”. And they didn’t.  Then you had to figure out the marketing puzzle. Suddenly you are in over your head but you are already all in.  You have to figure it out.  Bootcamp helps you to do that.

Add consulting into the mix and you have an incredible opportunity.  Expert consulting gives you that personalized one on one for your business with a marketing expert that can either help you figure out what to do or can do it for you!!

When you find all of these together it is a powerful combination.  The last key to figuring out if it is the right program for you is simply talking to the facilitator.

  • Are they somebody you can listen to?
  • Do they have the expertise that you need?
  • Is the program affordable for you?  A stretch is ok because that can be motivating.  Too much — going in the hole is not okay.  So make sure its a good fit.

2016 is starting off to be a great year.  Make sure that you are setting yourself up for the best success you can have!!

And of course, be sure to check out our Marketing Bootcamp and Mastermind!

Categories : Business Development
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CRCOnlineMedia: New Periscope Just Out. See What’s Happening! Your Online Reputation. It’s Critical. Webinar Starting.

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on February 1, 2016 No Comments

You are about to uncover A-level information, so forget about any other browser tabs you might have opened so far. I’ve been at it again, kicking ideas around with the Periscope peeps I came to know and cherish.

Dive into my latest broadcast shared with the World for the first time at February 1, 2016, 4:44 pm, so still fresh enough to give you a first-mover advantage if you’ll act upon it.

Don’t forget to search for “donnaprice” next time you open Periscope on your phone and join my current 4206 followers. Amazing things are coming for all those following my Periscope live streams: discounts, inside scoops, intriguing guests, and fresh perspectives to help you stay on top of your game.

Categories : Social Media Marketing
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CRCOnlineMedia: New Periscope Just Out. See What’s Happening! Be Sharable.

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on January 27, 2016 No Comments

You are about to uncover A-level information, so forget about any other browser tabs you might have opened so far. I’ve been at it again, kicking ideas around with the Periscope peeps I came to know and cherish.

Dive into my latest broadcast shared with the World for the first time at January 27, 2016, 5:38 pm, so still fresh enough to give you a first-mover advantage if you’ll act upon it.

Don’t forget to search for “donnaprice” next time you open Periscope on your phone and join my current 4148 followers. Amazing things are coming for all those following my Periscope live streams: discounts, inside scoops, intriguing guests, and fresh perspectives to help you stay on top of your game.

Categories : Social Media Marketing
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CRCOnlineMedia: New Periscope Just Out. See What’s Happening! Joy — The Movie, Lessons Learned. . What Is Your BIGGEST Entrepreneurial Lesson Learned?

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on January 22, 2016 No Comments

You are about to uncover A-level information, so forget about any other browser tabs you might have opened so far. I’ve been at it again, kicking ideas around with the Periscope peeps I came to know and cherish.

Dive into my latest broadcast shared with the World for the first time at January 22, 2016, 7:05 pm, so still fresh enough to give you a first-mover advantage if you’ll act upon it.

Don’t forget to search for “donnaprice” next time you open Periscope on your phone and join my current 4055 followers. Amazing things are coming for all those following my Periscope live streams: discounts, inside scoops, intriguing guests, and fresh perspectives to help you stay on top of your game.

Categories : Social Media Marketing
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New Periscope Just Out. See What’s Happening! So You Didn’t Win The Powerball Billion, Now What? It’s Up To You To Create Your Financial Future. H

By Donna Price, Marketing Strategist & Business Consultant on January 14, 2016 No Comments

greig1If you are like me — then you didn’t buy the winning ticket to the BIG Billion Dollar lottery. So, what next?  It is up to US.  Me and YOU!!  We have to build our own empire!  It is Doable and it is possible.

You and I can build huge empires –sellable businesses.  It takes a good strategy or two and consistent– massive ACTION.

I start with the VISION — where am I going? What is the BIG Vision.

Then I move on to the strategy.  This is key. Most people are jumping to tactics.  And they are not stringing them together into an effective and proven strategy. So you do some marketing and nothing happens. You blame the marketing.  But chances are that you didn’t have a full out strategy.

The marketing did its part but you didn’t know what to do with the leads.  My favorite example of this is trade shows.  You pay for a booth, you invest in your display, you come up with a giveaway and YOU FAIL to follow up with your leads or you don’t even collect them.  Instead you HOPE that people will call you and believe me they will NOT.

I have attended hundreds of shows where I have filled out the cards, or left my card and even had conversations about how I wanted the service.  And I rarely hear anything else from the person.

Change YOUR mindset and your strategies.

Join me for EnVision 2016 

You are about to uncover A-level information, so forget about any other browser tabs you might have opened so far. I’ve been at it again, kicking ideas around with the Periscope peeps I came to know and cherish.

Dive into my latest broadcast shared with the World for the first time at January 14, 2016, 7:57 pm, so still fresh enough to give you a first-mover advantage if you’ll act upon it.

Don’t forget to search for “donnaprice” next time you open Periscope on your phone and join my current 3922 followers. Amazing things are coming for all those following my Periscope live streams: discounts, inside scoops, intriguing guests, and fresh perspectives to help you stay on top of your game.

Categories : Business Development, local marketing
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