Small Business Marketing Matters:
Implementation Means "Keep At It"

- Amanda Cullen

We've reached the final article in my five small business marketing rules series. To refresh your memory, here are the rules:

1. Be easy to do business with.
2. Communicate with your customers in ways that are meaningful to them.
3. Know where you want to go.
4. Involve your team.
5. Keep at it.

This final article, appropriately, concentrates on implementation. You've developed a strategy that informs where you want your company to go. You've involved your team in developing and planning for this strategy. Together, you've made sure this strategy communicates with customers in ways that are meaningful to them and ensures your company is easy to do business with. You're probably feeling pretty satisfied with your progress. But your work has only just begun.

The most difficult part of any plan is implementation. It's not because the tasks of implementation are hard. Usually accomplishing these tasks don't require great skill or superhuman brainpower. The difficulty arises because implementation requires dedication and tenacity. You have to keep at it. Every day.

For many small business entrepreneurs, this process is boring, and implementation is often cut short, displaced by more exciting strategizing and perceived opportunities. But a small business can never reach its potential without completing the initiatives it starts.

Here are some tips for implementation success:

• Pay attention to details. Read my recent blog post about a business had a failed advertising strategy by ignoring the details on the printed piece.
• Develop easy-to-understand success metrics. Know you're succeeding (or failing) by establishing milestones along the way to your goal. These milestones should have due dates to create a sense of urgency.
• Hold quarterly or monthly check-up meetings. Grade your company's success on a regular basis with progress reports on your milestones. Make these meetings short and to the point, or everyone will dread them (don't you hate meetings that drag on and keep you from work?).
• Don't be a roadblock. Often small business owners are the bottleneck in the company's decision-making process. Decide which decisions you don't need to make. It will free up your time and speed up your strategy's success.
• Use your team's strengths. If you find it difficult to stay on track, someone on your team likely has strong implementation skills. Give them authority to check in, set meetings and make sure progress is made.

Now use these tips to go forth and implement!

Want to talk about your small business' marketing? Feel free to give me a call or email me with your questions—513.833.4203 or amanda@zooinajungle.com