The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

Growing your business with marketing, week 42: Lessons learned

This is Week 42 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

Ever feel like you wish you could turn back time and "unpublish" something really stupid that you did? Yeah. This week was like that.

Click over to the Virgo Guide for all the gory details on How I Screwed Up (so hopefully, you don't have to), as well as the usual weekly recap on what went down.

Growing your business with marketing, week 41: No more!

This is Week 41 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

Nothing really different or exceptional about my marketing this week, except that I'm giving screencasts another whirl.

Click over to the Virgo Guide for my video how-to on scheduling yourself well, instead of scheduling yourself for insanity.

Growing your business with marketing, week 40: Regrouping

This is Week 40 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

40 weeks? How is it possible!?!

With just 12 weeks left in the year and last week's meltdown fresh in my mind, I'm doing some serious Q4 rejiggering. That means taking a look backward both at what's been not-so-hot (nor useful) and what's been fun, valuable and energizing.

I've come up with a pretty good list of tactics that have and haven't worked for me so far this year, plus some ideas about which new things I want to move forward with next year.

When do you work on your new year? Have you considered a mid-stream revamping?

Jump over to the Virgo Guide and steal what you can from my list!

Growing your business with marketing, week 39: Planning to fail

This is Week 39 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

I attended two events this week that have already changed my life—marketing and otherwise—significantly.

One made me furious; the other delighted me. Both made me examine how I do things, plan things and look at things.

Oh, and the strangest part of all? They were the same event...

Want to see what a difference a day makes? Read the details on the Virgo Guide.

Growing your business with marketing, week 37: Shutting up

This is Week 37 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

One great thing about practicing your marketing everyday (other than, we hope, getting better at it) is that after a while, you have lessons thrown at you so many times, they become useful practice in your everyday, working life.

Take shutting up, for example. Maybe I would have learned the lesson on my own time eventually, but constant marketing (which includes consistent networking) has given me a big sample of people who are Doing It Wrong, and probably moved me to apply smart behaviors to my own business faster.

Read the whole gory story on the Virgo Guide. And learn why, as every hack presenter loves to remind you, we have two ears and just one mouth.

Growing your business with marketing, week 36: Looking back to move forward

This is Week 36 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

It's not everyday that you get interviewed...by yourself.

But to commemorate having 2/3rds of a Marketing Mentor calendar under my belt, that's just what I...er, we...did.

My burning questions (to me) on how the calendar has worked for me and what my plans are for moving forward, all in one fascinating (albeit wacko) interview.

Jump over to the Virgo Guide to read the crrrrazy interview for yourself. Hurry, before the men in the white coats come and haul me away!

Growing your business with marketing, week 34: It's all in the "ask"

This is Week 34 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

What do you do if you're not good at asking for stuff?

You look at why. You look at when you have asked, and when you haven't, and what's different.

You look at what it could do for your business or you or even the world if your "ask" got an answer.

Basically, you look. At least, that's what I did. And what I found wasn't particularly thrilling, but may end up being very helpful.

Jump over to the Virgo Guide to read the big, gory story in all its pain (and yes, some glory.)

Growing Your Business with Marketing, Week 32: Bandwidth and reach

This is Week 32 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

If you're working the Veteran's Calendar, you're in the throes of prepping your second email newsletter this month. This past week, I sent out my 28th—not exactly a round number, but combined with a lot of the other stuff that's starting to happen with my business as I tighten up my focus and work more specifically on my marketing, it makes for enough of milestone to reflect on where I've been and look to what I might need to do in the coming months (forget years—I'm with the nerds who think that the business cycle has been forever sped up by internet marketing in general and the social web in particular).

And as if by magic, an astounding graph dropped into my inbox to help me wrap my head around it. To read the particulars, join me over at the Virgo Guide to Marketing.

Growing Your Business with Marketing, Week 31: Eating elephants

This is Week 31 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

Getting your marketing machine up and running is a big endeavor that takes time, patience and a big appetite, much like eating the proverbial elephant.

This week, I reflect on some of the help I've enlisted in the eating of my elephant, both the paid and the free (well, paid in time) kinds.

To find out the full scoop, including all the gory details of what I learned, what I paid for it, and my exciting journey into the land of affiliate marketing, join me at the project mother ship, the Virgo Guide to Marketing.

Growing Your Business with Marketing, Week 30: Marketing on the road

This is Week 30 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See my companion blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for some more in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

If you want to see how much you've learned and grown—and also, how much you have to—try taking your act on the road.

This past week's trip to Chicago was wildly illuminating in so many ways: I learned about which processes are working and which aren't.

It was also really validating from the perspective of someone who's been plugging away, wondering whether any of this crazy stuff would ever pay off. It does, and it's thrilling!

To read the full story in all of its pain and glory, join me at the project mother ship, the Virgo Guide to Marketing.