Boil Your Frog and Other Marketing Strategies

You may have heard this one before. There is a story about a pan of water on a stove top and inside sits a frog. The water starts out at room temperature. Someone enters the kitchen and slowly begins to increase the temperature of the water, but just 1° at a time over several hours. The frog notices nothing due to the length of time it takes for the water to heat up.  The water gets hotter and hotter until it reaches 211°. Still the frog sits there. But what happens when one more degree is added? It changes everything! Ribbit!

What temperature are you operating your business at? Room temperature? 211°?

Do you even have a pan on the stove?

What is the one thing that you could do to raise the temperature of your business? It could be personal development. It could be writing a real marketing plan. It could be hiring an employee. If you are not sure what that one thing is, take a look around at some other business owners who are very successful and find out what they are doing to raise the bar for themselves.

Personal development always leads to business development. You cannot have business development without it. I always recommend a business coach to my clients. It increases their accountability and their chances of success. They will always see improvements in their personal life as well.

Writing a real marketing plan is one of the most effective ways to increase the laser focus of your business activities. Our company offers a marketing map which is a marketing plan that offers flexibility and control to the business owner and identifies many of the items that fall into a traditional marketing plan, without ending up on a shelf.

If you find yourself completely bogged down with work all the time, it may be time to consider hiring in employee. Talk about risk! Do it right and hire a payroll company like Paychex to facilitate the payroll process. Then train the person correctly and give them work. Now you have time to increase your sales to pay for that person. Being in employer is a huge responsibility and will instantly step up your game professionally.

Sometimes, like the frog, we do not know how close we are to reaching that one degree that makes all the difference. What can you do to bring your business to the next level? Call us at Leap Year Marketing to do some coaching and goal setting. THAT will get you boiling, I guarantee it!

Joanne Randall

724-603-LEAP

joanne@leapyearmarketing.com

Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Marketing Mojo Radio

Seasons

Happy New Year!

Do you ever feel like you need a fresh start? I know I do.  I love that feeling of setting goals and shedding bad habits in order to move forward.
Most people feel this way around New Year's Eve. That is always a good time to reflect on successes and opportunities from the past year and learn from them.  This is what I would call an annual season. How long does that good feeling last beyond New Year's Eve however? Ask anyone who has made a New Year's resolution to lose weight. I will admit that the 2 to 3 week period following New Year's eve, I am pretty pumped to work toward new goals.
I have found that in addition to the New Year's eve annual season, there are two other seasons in the year that produce the same effect. One is Spring, when Winter finally dies a slow and painful death and we all get outside and in the dirt. The other is Fall, when we are ready to send the kids back to school for a new year of learning and fun. These are the three seasons of fresh starts.
But what if you could regenerate that New Year's resolution feeling more than three times a year?
I have good news. You can!
New Year's is just an arbitrary day that really in itself has no meaning. We tell ourselves that that date means something. Think about it. January 1st is really no different than April 29th. So if we can create that resolution scenario for January 1st, guess what? We can do it for any day of our life. Every day is January 1st.  How awesome is that?!?
Start by asking yourself,"If today were New Year's Eve, what resolutions would I make?" Then decide on one that is significant and go for it. Renew your resolution as often as you need to to keep moving toward the change you are looking for.

Happy New Year!

p.s. Another great way to keep pumped about achieving your goals is by working with a high quality Business Coach. I use a coach and it has made an incredible difference.  Feel free to contact my Coach, John.  www.truechoicecoaching.com or https://www.facebook.com/pages/True-Choice-Coaching/138535236162890. 

Joanne Randall

www.LeapYearMarketing.com

iTunes Marketing Mojo Radio

724-603-LEAP

joanne@leapyearmarketing.com

Marketing Plans and Why You Need One

Marketing Plans are crucial to the success of a business. A common misconception is that they need to be long and complicated. The truth is, marketing plans should change as often as your goals change, which should be every six months. Why six months? Because if you don't achieve some growth goals in six months, consider the goal and reassess your strategy. The point here is that a marketing plan is useless unless it is developed around goals set by the people who work to reach the goals. This includes your employees, so make sure you include them in your goal setting - and your marketing plan. Buy in from them is crucial for success.