If you ask most business owners what one they want more of in their business, the top answer is more customers. Unfortunately that is not what most businesses need to increase their bottom line profits. But that is for another post.

Even though more customers is want most businesses want, most don’t have a marketing plan that will help them achieve that goal. Marketing should not be that difficult but most of us don’t take the time to think through the process carefully enough.

Here are our 10 Marketing Rules (or premises) that you need to think about before creating your plan.

1. We are in the Profit Business!
2. Marketing is Math
3. Marketing is an investment when you measure and test your results
4. Spend more time producing income instead of reducing costs
5. Put 50% of your time, effort & investment into distribution & more important the other 50% into sales & marketing
6. Buying customers is an investment so set your marketing budget by your acquisition costs
7. Never chase market share, go after wallet share instead
8. Establish the long term view of the value of our customers and their lifetime value
9. Always aim to reduce your acquisition cost and raise their lifetime value
10. Measure & Test Everything
11. Use a marketing plan and don’t wing it

Steve Goranson, MBA
Certified ActionCOACH