If you’re not familiar with the Marketing  Mastermind concept, allow me to overview it for you.

What Is A Marketing MasterMind? A Marketing MasterMind is a group of business professionals whose support, insight, wisdom, expertise and know-how can help you achieve wildly important business goals, maximize your marketing efforts for greater impact and create best practices and systems for your long term success. Make it a habit to be in the company of smart, innovative and forward thinking people.  These are the types of people who will offer fresh ideas and break-through approaches to creating a successful business.

Creating your Marketing MasterMind could take some time to build if you want it to be powerfully effective.  The group should consist of at least 1-3 “hand-picked by you” professionals who represent each of the different types of mastermind contributors.

The 5 Types Of Contributors To Your Marketing MasterMind:

• Fasteners

• Mentors/Coaches

• Sponsors/Advocates

• Competitive Alliances

• Advisors

Fasteners: Business professionals who keep you grounded, focused and on track.  They have insight into your big vision.  You feel like you can call them at 1am to brainstorm a grand idea – and he/she won’t hang up the phone on you.

Mentors/Coaches: Business professionals with an area of specialty that is critically important to future growth and success.  They help you drill down to focus on specific areas of development and get you unstuck on those issues so you can keep moving forward.

Sponsors/Advocates: Business professionals who know you, like you and trust in your abilities as a business professional.  These types of contributors eagerly pass leads and referrals to you, and in exchange – love to pick your brain for ideas.

Competitive Alliances: Business professionals who are in a similar industry as you and whose market segment is similarly aligned to yours.  Seemingly competitors, you equally appreciate the differences in each other’s business perspectives and way of doing business.

Advisors: Business professionals who have a vested interest in you both personally and professionally.  These types of contributors are intimately involved in the details of your big vision and provide the insight needed to maintain your business infrastructure.

For more about discovering the power of your Marketing Mastermind, review Module 1 of the Marketing With Ease™ system.

Now that you know what type of contributors you are looking for, are you ready to start building your Marketing Mastermind?

While not as comprehensive as a traditional marketing plan, the Do It Now Marketing Plan™ does include the core strategic components of a traditional marketing plan.  This ensures that the marketing plan has a foundation.  I created the 1 Day 1 Page marketing plan concept to make the marketing plan “actionable“.  If you can’t execute from your plan, it really isn’t a plan at all.  Most small business owners would have difficulty executing a traditional marketing plan.

Oftentimes I see well-meaning business professionals so wrapped up in the planning process that they forget one key element . . . you have to actually do something.  You can’t plan forever and marketing is no exception.  In fact, I’m often on Twitter tweeting “perfection is the killer of execution”.  It’s also one of the scenes in my book 37 What Were They Thinking Moments In Marketing.  No plan is perfect.  I would also bet that a perfect plan (should you were to actually create one) is not actionable.

But before you plunge head first into crafting that marketing plan of yours, there are some elements that require thought.  I came up with “11  Must Ask Questions (sorry, I tried to make it 12, it just didn’t happen) to answer so that creating your Do It Now Marketing Plan™ is a whole lot easier. If you have a Marketing With Ease™ system, the Do It Now Marketing Plan™ is contained in Module 5.  If you don’t have the system yet, here’s where to purchase your copy.

Okay, on to those 11 Must Ask Questions . . .

11 Must Ask Questions Before You Even Think About Creating A Marketing Plan

Get the 11 Must Ask Questions presentation by clicking the above image.

If you can answer the 11 Must Ask Questions, then you are well on your way to marketing planning bliss.  It gets easier and faster to create your marketing plan once you’ve done it a few times.  Don’t give up and don’t get frustrated. If you get stuck, you can always send me an email and I’ll steer you in the right direction.

So, what’s your first step? [Hint, download the presentation!]

If you know what you are looking for, you’ll discover that online data information gathering through various data mines, social platforms and information portals offer widely available content.  Here’s the kicker – it’s free!If you’re thinking, what’s the point of doing market research when you’re already in business, then you haven’t been to one of my workshops.  I am a champion for taking daily actions toward market research for 3 key reasons:

Reason #1- Use market research to evaluate market conditions

Simply put, “market conditions” is what’s happening in your industry at any given moment.  Market conditions can change hourly for some industries.  Some industries have quarterly or seasonal changes, while others are driven by consumer behavior and can fluctuate depending on several factors.  If you’re unsure how to determine your market conditions, request a consult with me and we can chat about it.

Keeping a pulse check (a word I use in my consulting firm) on your industry’s market conditions can help you:

-          Create a realistic overview of your competitive environment

-          Better understand the business challenges you might be facing

-          Gain insight into what your sustainable competitive advantage really is

Reason #2- Market research can help you define (or re-define) your market segments

Simply put, “market segments” are the categories of customers mostly likely to buy your services and/or products.  Segments are typically determined by how customers in that segment (or group) use your services and/or product.

Generally speaking, simple market research that focuses on market segmentation can help you:

-          Better define your primary, secondary and tertiary customer groups

-          Refine how you present your service and/or product as a solution for each customer type

-          Customize your marketing efforts based on the buying behaviors of each customer group

Reason #3- Market research can help you create realistic sales goals

Make sure your sales expectations are realistic giving your industry, the market conditions and the customer segments you have identified.  Too often, business professionals think that if something has a 1 in a million chance, they are the one.  Is that realistic? Probably not. It’s OK to have stretch goals, but having a realistic expectation of what you can earn is key.  Not to mention it will keep you from over-extending yourself and your resources.

Keep this in mind  . . .

There are only 10 marketing strategies, regardless of the size of your business and the size of your budget. These are covered in Module 4 of the Marketing With Ease™ System.  Choose the combination of marketing strategies that make sense for your types of customer segments.  Too often, business professionals chase after the newest trend, (what I call “squirrels”) and don’t take into consideration whether it’s appropriate for existing and potential customers.

Market research is a key component in determining sales goals.  By achieving smaller, more manageable sales goals (instead of constantly stretching for those pie in the sky goals), you will pump up your momentum. Momentum is the fuel you need to stay the course and see the results you really desire come to fruition.

Why not start some market research right now? You’re already online aren’t you?