As small business owners, we seem to want our marketing campaigns to work overnight. We open our doors to our new business and just expect that the Clients will line up to do business with us. However, this is most definitely not the case in most situations.

So what are you doing to attract clients? More importantly, what systems do you have in place to ensure you are spending your marketing dollars wisely? If you have a website what are you doing to ensure people are finding it? Do you take the time and steps necessary to draw the traffic to your website? If you are networking, what are you doing to ensure that you are just not another face at the networking event? Do you take the time to establish relationships? If you are relying on word of mouth what steps have you taken to ensure that your clients are talking? Do they even know that you want them to talk about you?

It is fine and dandy to establish a good marketing plan, but please, please ensure that you have a good evaluation plan in place as well to make sure that your marketing dollars are not wasted and you have truly taken the steps to grow a thriving business.