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January is always a good time to be thing about what you want to achieve in your business for the year ahead. Perhaps you want to create new products or offers, make an impact in a new marketplace or find new types customers that you've not served before.

Maybe you're just starting out in your enterprise and it's all new and a little bit confusing? Don't panic, we've all been there!

Keep the engine running, especially if you’re a small business isn't always easy. And if you’re a new business it can often feel like you’re overwhelmed with ‘priorities’ and where to put your time and energy.

Sales and Marketing are fundamentals, and yet surprisingly this is where most new and growing business owners struggle. And let’s face facts, if you can’t find your customers then it doesn't matter how good your products or services are… you still need customers and clients to buy what you have to offer.

So where can you start, with the serious intention of making 2014 a year of change?

Well, perhaps not surprisingly I’m going to suggest that you really tackle the marketing issue. It's just so critical to business success.

Of course you may feel that you’re doing well on this front but just for a moment I’m going to suggest a quick self-test that will help you understand where you are and what you (may) need to do about it when it comes to your marketing.

Give yourself just five minutes and answer these ten questions honestly:

1. I've felt that over the past twelve months we've got a good grip on our marketing activity
2. We now have a plan to follow for the year ahead and I know how to action it weekly and monthly
3. I’m testing and measuring marketing so that I know where I need to spend my time and money
4. I can confidently dump the marketing activities that I know have failed to give me an ROI and find better alternatives
5. I’m confident about using forms of marketing, like email and Social Media
6. I believe that we've got our message right; customers understand what it is we offer and buy from us as a result
7. I have a process for keeping existing customers engaged and inviting them back to buy more
8. I’m actively price-testing our offers and working towards reaching optimum pricing
9. I have a marketing schedule laid out for the next twelve months to follow
10. I’m working on developing my own business skills, especially marketing, through 2014

If you can confidently say that you’re working on these points and you've got a sense that it’s under control then you’re doing great – in fact you’re probably in the top 5% of business owners!

If, having completed this self-test, you realise that you’re still struggling with marketing then I seriously urge you to stop and take stock. If you haven’t got to grips with your marketing you’re simply never going to reach the potential you could. Perhaps now is the time to change that?!

We've never lived in a more exciting time. Ideas and methods of marketing are everywhere. The Internet is full of great blogs, articles and online training resources. So my personal encouragement is to give yourself a plan to make marketing work for you in 2014.

Take the Challenge and get started!

Source:  Flying Start Marketing Challenge - Make Marketing Work