Earlier this week I spoke at a KeyBank Key4Women Lunchbox Series event, held at Graziella’s Restaurant, in White Plains, New York. I have attended many of these luncheons in the past, and have always been impressed by the strong, entrepreneurial women in attendance and the wisdom of the presenters. For this event, KeyBank chose to donate part of the event admission to Girls Inc, which provides programs and advocacy that empower girls to reach their full potential and inspires them to be strong, smart and bold.

I was honored to have been asked to speak, and pleased by the questions, comments and feedback. I chose a topic that I thought would be much more thought provoking than talking about low cost marketing, search engine optimization, or branding confusion… I chose to address why we fear marketing. What we can do to overcome those fears? And then I gave five steps, each with action items to get started marketing today. While I won’t go into the whole presentation (you’ll have to invite me to speak!), I will share my four key takeaways here:

Decide to decide: Every minute your marketing is “on hold,” you might be losing potential customers to your competitor. Jump in with a marketing mindset or sink. 

Investing vs. Spending: Change your mindset: marketing is an investment to produce revenue.

Marketing is measured. Unfocused spending is frivolous.

Stick to a budget: Create a budget – from 2% to 12% of projected revenue, as a general rule – and stick to it! That in itself will give you a sense of accomplishment!

Marketing creates leads: Marketing opens the door. Remember: you still have to sell!

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