If you are a small business owner without any prior marketing experience, it can be easy to just leap in, get busy creating websites, Twitter profiles, marketing materials etc, without any clear idea of what you want to achieve, or even who are are trying to target. Many service professionals try to be all things to all people thinking that this will widen their market when in fact it makes marketing incredibly hard!

So before leaping in and expending lots of time, energy and money, here are my top 10 tips for creating a successful marketing campaign:

1. Identify your target audience - this is a critical first step in your marketing campaign and if you don't know this, everything else can basically be a big waste of time and money! 
2. Research your target audience - who are they, what are their problems, challenges and aspirations; where do they hang out and how to they buy? For example, it may be a complete waste of time putting all your energy into Twitter if 95% of your target audience aren't on it!
3. Budget! - you will need one, however small and it will help you with identifying which marketing channels you can use to attract new clients
4. Marketing Activities - Plan which marketing activities will you use to generate qualified leads? When you understand your target market and how they buy, this becomes easier. Unless you are a brilliant sales person who is great at knocking on doors to get your clients then you will need a variety of marketing activities aimed specifically at your target audience.
5. Marketing Materials - Once you know what marketing activities you are going do, you will have a better idea of what materials you need. I know lots of people who rush out and print thousands of brochures or flyers without any clear idea of their ultimate purpose and how they will distribute them What happens - they end up with lots of paper for recycling!
6. Micro Strategies - Once you have an overall strategy and plan, then you need to drill down even deeper. For example, if your plan includes creating a website, you need to know what you want this website to do for your business, how you will develop it, maintain it, get traffic to it and use it to help you continually grow your business.
7. Measure your success! - You need to measure the results of your marketing activities so you know what is and isn't working for business. This way you know where to focus your time, energy and budget!
8. The Art of Tweaking - Just because your ad, profile, website etc, doesn't work first time, doesn't mean it's a failure; it could just need a little tweaking and refinement. So when you measure your results, you need to measure them in some detail so you understand where the problem might be. Try changing just 1 or 2 things at a time and measure the effect.
9. Marketing is not a one-off event! - Many people think that they can just 'set-up' an activity and that's it done - e.g. "I have a website so now the clients will pour in!"
10. Persistence, tenacity and repetition - Hardly anyone gets it right the first time, even the top marketing agencies, so persistence, measurement and continual tweaking are key! Marketing is a crucial, ongoing part of a successful business not something to do just when the mood strikes!

When you take time and effort to plan your marketing, you can avoid wasting time by leaping on the next brand shiny new marketing toy in the hope that it will be your road to marketing Damascus!

At my How to Turn Your Website Into a Client Magnet workshop you will create a simple and effective strategy for creating the kind of online presence that will ensure you attract your ideal clients and that your business really stands out from the crowd!