When people hear the word ‘marketing’ they often think of advertising. Advertising is only one small element of marketing.

People do business with people they know, like, and trust. Unless you first build strong relationships with your customers, you risk wasting your advertising dollars. Marketing based on relationships builds a strong foundation that supports a solid business.

Marketing is everything you do to promote your product or service and everything that touches your customer.

To achieve business success, you need to get back to the basics with grassroots marketing - building relationships. Networking is the ideal way to begin this process. Good networkers look at what they can do for others, not at what others can do for them. In the spirit of goodwill, their counterparts will usually look for ways to reciprocate.

Educating your clients & prospects is another effective way to build relationships. Through education, you become the expert, the person they trust. Websites, newsletters, articles, instructional videos/CD’s are some of the effective educational mediums. Remember your focus is to educate, not sell.

Connecting with your customers through tradeshows, seminars, presentations & demonstrations is even more powerful - nothing takes the place of face to face. In today’s high tech world, it is easy to forget the importance of personal contact.

Be creative and consistent. Build relationships by investing your time, energy, and resources on an ongoing basis.

Successful marketing is the right message to the right people at the right time, delivered in the right way. To be most effective, it should be incorporated into all daily aspects of your business. Marketing must be a significant part of your overall business plan.

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

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Written by Lori Colborne, President - LSL Marketing Consultants
Lori Colborne is an international keynote speaker, consultant & author of “Innovative Marketing Made Easy!”