Marketing with the Rule of 5

If you own a small business, you know how hard it can be to squeeze in time for your marketing. You are usually acting as everything from CEO to receptionist, and when you have clients, working hard to get more of them falls down the priority list. Who can blame you? When things are going well, you want to do a great job for the clients you have--not focus on getting more, and perhaps letting your quality slip.

Take it from someone who owns a small business--you've got to do the marketing, regardless of how many clients you have now. When my partner and I started Grasshopper Communications, we fell into the trap of letting things slide. We got some good clients very early on, and focused on doing the best possible job we could for them. When we finished their contracts, however, we discovered that we didn't have anything in the pipeline. To aggravate the situation, our contracts ended in November, meaning we had no income in December and January, and little prospect of getting any, since business slows down around the holidays. We learned from that mistake, and hopefully we can help you learn from it, too.

It can be daunting, though, to look at your marketing goals and even know where to begin. That's where I apply the Rule of 5. The Rule of 5 is a secret I learned from Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Write your marketing goal on your business card, sign it, and carry the card in your wallet so that you look at it every day. Then, do five small things that will get you closer to that goal. Maybe you make five phone calls, or write five solicitation letters, or send five emails to prospects, or collect five names for a mailing list. If you do five small things toward your marketing every day, before you know it, you'll have reached your goal.

So next time you feel like you don't have time to do the marketing, just remember the Rule of 5.