Secrets to Success Deborah Cole Micek and John-Paul Micek

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Marketing must be measurable

Part 12 in a 13-part series

LAW NO. 11. of the of the 12 Laws of Online Marketing with Business Blogs, RSS, and Podcasts is that direct-response marketing is the only marketing you want to invest in -- off-line or online, in a magazine or on the Web, in a press release or a postcard, in every sales letter and occasionally in posts on your business blog.

The only thing that matters is getting your prospects or clients to respond by taking some type of action. What that action is will depend on what you're trying to achieve. No matter what response you're looking for, you must always remember that you want a prospect to take some action on the spot.

THERE ARE two reasons why you must demand that your marketing motivates prospects to action.

» Action that can be directly attributed to one of your marketing channels is the only way you can determine the effectiveness of that channel in reaching your target audience.

It's not enough to know that your sales are up over the same period from the previous year. You must know specifically why they're up.

» In today's jaded and overcrowded marketplace, you must build relationships with your prospects and clients. You want to learn more about their needs, develop trust, build rapport and prove to them that you have their best interest at heart.

THE FOLLOWING guidelines, when put into practice, will assure that every marketing effort you choose from now on will give you solid results and business-boosting action on the part of prospects and clients.

• Each and every one of your marketing efforts must be completely measurable. Measuring and improving the results of your marketing methods will allow you to cut your costs significantly while getting much better results for every dollar you invest.
  
  
• To get the maximum return on investment on every marketing effort, you must constantly eliminate dead weight. If a marketing strategy doesn't generate action, modify it and test again. Monitor results, modify your approach, and when you have enough data, drop the dead weight and focus on what's working better.

REMEMBER that your marketing goal is to motivate and influence your target audience to take action. Directing people to take specific action, and then getting them to take that action is all that counts. Keep this in mind and you'll succeed where so many other business owners fail.