In this special Coaching article, I want to focus on a very important principle - 'Where to Start.'

As you may have already know, you have many more marketing options than you may have realised. But one of the challenges of having so many great options is deciding which ones to pick out first.

So here are the areas that you should tackle first if you want to immediately impact your business. Many of the following are covered in more depth elsewhere on the site. The purpose of this article is to give you the 'headlines' on where to start first.

This is particularly important if you're getting stressed or frustrated at your levels of success. Take a deep breath, understand that I am here to show you how to transform your business…and you've chosen to get access to material that 99% of businesses have absolutely no idea of. So start with a clear head.

and do more of them. I know this sounds overly simplistic - but you would be deeply shocked if you knew how many business owners I've spoken to who think they're struggling …..but are also sitting on a highly profitable, existing marketing system.

For example, I know of business owners who spend a couple of hours a week making calls to get appointments to sell their product or service. These appointments generate the sales that keep the business going. But the owner is struggling doing 101 different things and wants to know how to improve their marketing.

What they don't realise is that they already have a great marketing system in place. If you can generate good appointments with a few hours of calls each week, what would happen if you had someone else making calls for you all day, every day?

So before you start looking to implement all these great new Marketing strategies, please check what you are doing already, and do more of what works.

I know, it's another obvious one. But if it's so obvious, why are so many businesses wasting a fortune on haphazard marketing that does not work?

If there are any elements of your marketing that are not working for you ('working' means clearly profitable) stop them today, because I can assure you there are many more options available to you that will work.

Of course, to know whether they are working, you need to be able to measure your marketing, which brings us to…..

The foundation of all good marketing is testing and measuring. If you start implementing all the new approaches I am going to share with you, without a system for measuring the results, you'll still do well, but you'll never achieve the success you're capable of.

Let me say it again. Testing and Measuring is the foundation of your business success. You've got to be able to measure what you are doing. Specifically, you need to be able to measure:

• Where new customers come from

• The long term value of a customer (what they spend with you, on average during the life of their relationship with you)

• How much each element of your Marketing costs.

• How much revenue each of these Marketing elements generates.

• Whether each element of your Marketing is profitable - and how profitable it is.

As you and I work together in the months and years ahead, we will return to testing and measuring again and again. There are many elements to it, for example, measuring on the internet is a science in itself. The few individuals who take this on board make a fortune. For now, just ensure that you have the above taken care of and you will already be way ahead of the competition.

The first place any business should start to improve their profits is with their existing customers. 

You've heard the figures about it being 10 times easier to sell to an existing customer than a new one. Actually, for many businesses it's probably 100 times easier.

So if you want some instant additional income, I can virtually guarantee it's waiting there in your existing customer base. Test phoning them, emailing them, mailing them, going to see them. Make them some compelling offers and you'll get some instant additional sales.

Pay Per Click has emerged as such a powerful Marketing tool - and it's so inexpensive to test, it should be one of the first things you try out.

Many people try Pay Per Click for a few days, it doesn't work out and so they leave it. There are certainly some Pay Per Click 'secrets' that can make the difference between failure - and major success. One of the purposes of this site is to continually keep you at the leading edge of Internet Marketing. Everything you need for your Google or Overture campaign will be on this site. So try it out. It's also allot of fun!

If you're not emailing your customers and prospects (a 'prospect' is a potential customer who has expressed some type of interest in what you are offering) at least once a month (and probably more) then you're crazy. Simple as that.

One of the most important 'first steps' is to make sure that you have great copy. ('Copy' refers to all the words you write to promote your product/service)

Other than when you are speaking to a potential customer, it is your copy that will be selling your product or service. It could be on your website, in emails, brochures, letters or advertising. The difference between bad copy and great copy is often the difference between a failing business and a highly profitable one.

There are going to be tons of resources on this site to help you with your copy. I'm even going to write copy for you to steal mercilessly and use for your business!

For now, the one most important rule of great copy is that it needs to be about your customer - not about you. It needs to explicitly convey how they are going to benefit from what you are offering. Start with your website. Does your site clearly communicate how your potential customers' lives are going to be massively enhanced when they become your customers?

The good news for you about copy is, you can rest assured that 99% of your competitors have not got the beginnings of a clue how to write good copy. They'll soon be looking at your business in total awe!

If you're not using the telephone as a major part of growing your business, you should give it serious consideration.

Using the phone to acquire new customers can involve a fair amount of work, research and trial and error, although when it works, it can be massively profitable.

But using the phone to sell to existing customers is usually a non-brainer and I am continually stunned that so many businesses don't do it.

In this Coaching Article I have aimed to simplify the process of you deciding what the next steps should be for you.

Once you've implemented the above, you can continue to make your progress powerfully simple by deciding to test at least one new Marketing concept every month. 

There's no shortage of possibilities for you. You'll find them throughout this site. The key is that you actually use them. The 'once a month' strategy is one of the best ways to do it. Think about it. This time next year you will have tested at least 12 new Marketing strategies. If you test two each month, that rises to 24.

Don't under-estimate the power of this low-risk, consistent approach to growing your business.

Happy Marketing!

Chris Cardell