What is it that gets in the way of simply doing the marketing activities we know we should do? What prevents you from staying on track and just making it happen?

We can look both inside and outside.

Inside, what prevents us from doing effective marketing are various “constrictive mindsets.” “I don’t have the time; nobody will be interested; if I have to market myself, my services must be substandard; I’ll just get rejected; I can’t start until I know I can do it perfectly.” – Ad nauseum.

So we can work on our mindsets. Very good idea.

But there’s also something outside that prevents us from marketing and it can be just as debilitating. It can stop us cold, keep us confused and prevent any kind of marketing productivity.

I call it “Marketing Randomness.”

Here are the dictionary definitions of randomness:

1. Having no definite aim, purpose or direction; 2. No specific goal or destination; 3. No particular methodology or plan; 4. Haphazard and disorganized in execution.

And if that isn’t an exact description of most people’s marketing, I don’t know what is!

So the antidote to randomness is just the opposite:

1. Having a definite aim, purpose and direction; 2. Having a specific goal or destination; 3. Having a proven methodology and plan; 4. Having an organized, structured way of getting things done.

You might say this is the purpose of my business, Action Plan Marketing:

“To help Independent Professionals attract more of their ideal clients by having a purpose, goal and direction, with a proven methodology in an organized way.”

If you have all of that you can do virtually anything successfully, and you can certainly be a more effective marketer of your services.

Let’s look at this in a very practical way. I’ll share the exact marketing approach I use to attract all the ideal clients I need.

1. Purpose: The purpose of my marketing is to attract the ideal clients to me consistently, who I can successfully serve in a way that makes a difference to them while providing me with a good income and personal fulfillment.

A purpose is a direction with a clear intention behind it. You want to always be moving in the direction of your purpose. You fulfill it every single day through accomplishing your goals, with a plan, in an organized way.

Now write yours in your own words.

2. Goal: To attract 20 ideal clients for next year’s Marketing Mastery Program.

A goal must be something very specific that fulfills your purpose. It must be “S.M.A.R.T. – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and have a Timeline.

Now write down your main marketing goal.

3. Methodology and Plan: Email messages to my list, free introductory teleclasses, in-depth letter explaining the program, application form, complimentary strategy sessions.

These are the how-to marketing activities I’ll take to accomplish my goal. This one will take more time and thought to figure out. It will often take some expert guidance and support.

Now work at creating a simple, step-by-step plan for achieving your goal.

4. Get Organized: I will have a project page with all the marketing activities I need to accomplish, with a timeline. I will write down the the priority items from the plan on a weekly list. I will then transfer items from the weekly list to a daily list and focus on completing them every day. Sometimes this will be just an item or two per day.

This is the essence of my organizational system. It stars with a very detailed plan and timeline and then gets funneled down to very specific daily actions. I use worksheets I’ve designed for this purpose and use them every day.

Now work out your system to get and stay organized.

The More Clients Bottom Line: To have marketing success, you must work consciously against randomness. With a purpose, goal, methodology/plan and an organized system to get things done it’s amazing what can be accomplished. Don’t worry about “killer marketing strategies,” instead work at getting focused and productive and you can produce extraordinary results with very simple, time-tested strategies.

By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert’s web site at www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses.