The I Love Lucy Guide to Marketing

In the 1950s television show, Lucy has one overriding goal: to break into show biz and to get Ricky to put her in his nightclub act.

The thousands of wacky and inventive ways she went about trying to achieve this goal is what made the TV show so hilarious.

Here’s what Lucy can teach you about marketing

There are no silver bullets, no magical “one perfect technique” that will help you achieve your marketing goals. (We all wish there was one ideal marketing technique that will send flood of customers your way, don’t we?) I work with clients in 48 different industries and I’m hearing the same story from them over and over again: you have to use multiple marketing techniques in a coordinated, integrated fashion, because people will come to you through all those channels.

I had seven prospective client phone calls this week. Where did they come from? Five different marketing techniques!

• One came because she’d been a subscriber to my email newsletter for several years
• Another came because our connection on Facebook
• One came from an article I was interviewed for, in Entrepreneur Magazine
• Two came from people Googling “small business coach”
• The final two came from word-of-mouth referrals from other clients

The other thing my successful clients are doing is tracking the results of their marketing efforts and making tweaks along the way. Don’t spend all your time being busy “doing” your marketing that you never step back and look at the big picture. Put on your CEO hat and be strategic about your marketing.

Ask yourself:

1. Have my marketing goals changed, or will they change in the coming year?
2. In the past 12 months, which marketing techniques have brought the most customers?
3. Are there any marketing techniques that used to work well, but now are not as strong?
4. Are my marketing techniques up-to-date, or could some of them use a tweak and a facelift?
5. Which marketing techniques take the most time, and can I delegate some of the work to others to free myself up?

And take a tip from Lucy

If at first the results aren’t stellar, take a step back and look for another creative way to achieve your goals. Above all, never give up on what you really, really want!

P.S. If you’re spending all your time being busy doing work for your business, then you’re not acting like a business owner, you’re acting like an employee. Give yourself the gift of “CEO Time” each week to plan and implement your big goals.