Greetings everyone,

This is how I best describe how much I actually want to spend on marketing.

Marketing on a consistent basis costs money, time and imagination. I have made my fair share of terrible marketing choices that I would not trade for the world. I would not appreciate the knowledge received from them without those costly, COSTLY blunders. This is what I learned from personal, (on the job), guerrilla marketing.

IMAGINATION is priceless when wanting champagne marketing and advertising, on a beer pocketbook.  It is what keeps your marketing (look and feel) professional. Some people got it, and some do not. Without imagination, achieving the desired success from your marketing without a handsome financial investment lessens your chances of marketing success. As my Grams would say, “Who would have thunk it?” Imagination is the key to achieving champagne success on a limited marketing budget.

TIME is the next important must have. Patience building your connections and spreading your message via direct marketing, social networking, email marketing, events, etc . . . .  must have patience from all involved. Some marketing campaigns incubate for three to four weeks and others must have a full nine months, so patience is part of the process.

Now speaking from personal experience, having patience with no operating capital to keep you floating is torture. If this is the case, stay on the course and be serious about it because If it is to be, it is ALL up to YOU! Remember to have faith and stay humbly prayed up. Also people respect successful results, they do not appreciate the efforts or the process to get there, so don’t look for accolades while building. Simply work your marketing plan!

When I talk with people about their marketing, they have said or implied this message when asked what they expect from a customized marketing campaign. The first expectation is 80%: (I Want Champagne, on a Beer Pocketbook!)

Do you have imagination, time, and patience? If so, the bubbly is on the way!!

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

Greetings everyone,

I have listened to three people who have businesses and mentioned that their plan of action due to the economy, *is to suspend all marketing for a while, *to cut back on the marketing budget, and *to let the marketing company they hired go for about a month or so, until things turn around. They said they are working out how they will in-house market until things turn around.

OK, I shall say it again. Cut back on marketing, WTH!!!!!

Marketing is the beginning, the middle, and without it, the end of your business. People forget quickly, they lose faith in you and your business when you drop off the scene, and your competitors will feast easily on your “should have been” client’s.

Cut back on marketing? You might as well cut your own throat NOW! Why wait three months from now, just cut it now before your phone goes dead, your front door starts collecting dust, and the employees that probably put the idea in your head to begin with look for and find a better job. When the ship goes down, the only person that will be standing there is YOU. It ain’t no shame in laying off or implementing a run-and-go-get-it policy for your employees.

There is nothing more I will say other than, “Cut back on marketing? What the h….!!

It is Always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World

Greetings everyone,

This is the official Re-Launch of SweeThorn social network.  It is a 4 day information (Grassroots) party!

A world of sharing information creatively. Information that you can use in and for your business and daily living.

Network Re-Launch Dates!

Friday January 22, 2010 thru  Monday January 25, 2010   (SweeThorn.ning.com) Join the Exchange!

The network is currently online and under construction. Until then please excuse the construction and broken links.

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

Happy New Year,

Lisa Henry, Network Creator

Greetings everyone,

This coming year is a year of -Dreaming a World- in VIVID Colour.  We are dreaming and living a Whole New World and want to Share our Whole New World with you!

I live in a world of imagination and ideas. Dreaming a world in colour is awesome. Dreaming out loud and in colour is priceless. What makes this even more worthwhile is the potential (the thought) of actually bringing your piece of the rainbow into reality! I get goosebumps just thinking of how dreams transition into reality. Just what is it that separates a sleeper of dreams from an implementer of dreams? This can be answered by asking yourself, “Do you believe?” Belief is the quintessential piece that transitions dreams into reality. I live in a world of imagination and ideas. I am a Believer! A believer in the impossible, and a definite believer in the power of dreams  .  .  .  .

SweeThorn is developing and moving forward. Dreams and ideas are energizing us, pushing us to raise the bar and create a foundation built upon the quintessential; to BELIEVE!

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“I am like a shooting star, I’ve come so far. I can’t go back where I use to be.” I look forward seeing you in 2010.

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

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Lisa Henry, ( I Got Ideas! For your marketing  .  .  .  .  .  . Does everybody know your Name?)

Flash Designer and Marketing Coach | http://www.LisaHenry.net

SweeThorn Social Network | http://www.SweeThorn.ning.com Join today.

Follow on Twitter | http://www.Twitter.com/lisahenry1

FaceBook | http://www.FaceBook.com/sweethorn

SweeThorn Video Blog | http://www.YouTube.com/sweethornmarketing

For more information SweeThorn@LisaHenry.net or 601-497-1289

SweeThorn Design: http://www.TheHighFrequencyBand.com

SweeThorn Design http://www.ZaysWay.com

Greetings everyone,

An IDEAL rule of marketing is NEVER halt your marketing.

This is what I have been adamant about for years and have declared it shameful to even think about, so now the question is, “How to re-crank your marketing plan?”

A positive attitude of PRESS and move forward are very much needed. The following, details the challenges to overcome in a marketing plan and creative plan to combat when marketing is halted.

Challenge 1:

Your audience forgets you fast! Without being in the eye of your audience daily, you won’t be remembered. The point of marketing and advertising is for people to know about you and your services.

Challenge 2:

Understanding that you will have missed opportunities because you are not in the game. If you are not playing in the game, there is no opportunity to win.

Challenge 3:

Your competition is picking up YOUR missed opportunities. The competition is creating relationships with potential clients or customers and in this economy establishing those relationships are marketing gold.

Challenge 4:

Starting over. You can’t start a business without marketing and you can’t maintain a business without it. Without marketing there is no business.  The time and money spent to gain share of MIND is wasted. Once you stop marketing you have lost share of mind and really must start over.

When developing your marketing plan knowing these basic challenges will help structure your marketing campaign to succeed after you have halted your marketing.

There will be many posts sharing how to overcome being out of the eye of your audience, so sign up to receive blog updates.

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World

Lisa Henry

Marketing Coach, I Got Ideas!

Greetings everyone,

Personal development is the core of creating, building, and sustaining a marketing plan/campaign on limited financial resources. The journey of a marketing war with low or limited resources requires heart, presence of mind and many compromises.

You must be a mental athlete. One that can move around the obstacles of limited resources. Personal development of mind and self fills the void of lack of financial resources, lack of objects needed, and pressures from those asking, “How, what, where, when, and why.”

It is never too late to learn, grow, and achieve. All things are possible, BELIEVE.  Bringing your dream into reality is work that is worth the journey. There is much trial and error developing, so be patient. This is what I remind myself to do daily.

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

Lisa Henry
Marketing ideas  .  .  .  .  .

Greetings everyone,

Persistence can be the greatest asset or your worst enemy. Dedication and persistence are necessary when marketing on a low budget. It is like watching water boil, it seems the water will never get hot, especially when finances are unsecured. However this is the normal journey of marketing on a low budget in the beginning.

To keep your eyes on the prize, surround yourself with people who will encourage, support, and bring joy. Make a plan and follow it, however leave room to explore other opportunities that may arise. Be aware of negative influences, naysayers, and dream killers. Visions are to be believed or not, when shared. If you share your vision with someone and they do not believe in your vision, thank them for listening and give birth to your vision. Just keep your mind focused and not let negative influences cause doubt. This includes friends and family also.

Persistence can be your greatest asset. Remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. The Tortoise knew he was not as fast as the Hare, but he believed he could win. He won by persistence! Vision, faith, and a plan equals PERSISTENCE.

Persistence can also be your worst enemy. Prioritizing where to focus your resource of persistence is huge!!! There is such a thing of persistently riding a horse to death. Choose your battles, focus your energy of persistence in a direction that will benefit you and your business.

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!
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Greetings everyone,

Constantly asked, “How do you market for attorneys?” My cookie cutter answer is, “I grassroots market by using direct mail and community marketing.” Now the cookie cutter answer is not working anymore.

I practice guerrilla marketing strategies to make the phones ring for law firms that need it the most. Lucrative firms use a few guerrilla marketing strategies, however they are financially stable to market the “RIGHT” way. Which I whole heartedly agree is the best way in the correct circumstances.

The heart of Guerrilla Marketing is fighting to protect a way of life. Everyone is quick to share with you the right way to market business for law firms, however when there are bill collectors knocking on an attorneys professional and personal life it is time to look for alternatives to traditional or the right way to market. Keep in mind, law offices have staff employees and their way of life is also in question.

Law firms are businesses just as others. They flourish, have rocky times or close. The bottom line is do you give up or throw that Hail Mary pass? When I am contracted, I understand what is at stake.

There are rules of advertising that attorneys must abide in marketing clients. I know them like the back of my hand. I explore alternatives marketing to people who are need of legal services that have not been used that are within the realm of those rules.

Along with being a legal marketing virtual assistant, I am a strategist. For example, for direct mail startegies, names from various county and city jails are collected and then mailed. There were about 5 of us from different firms that showed up like clock work to view and write down the names from the jail docket book. This is a log of all people who have been arrested. That means that there were 4 to 5 letters hitting those mail boxes at the same time. I needed those names first, remember I am protecting a way of life, I wrote a letter to the Sheriff asking if the firm could get a print out of the jail docket after 3:00 daily at a cost that he deemed appropriate for paper, ink, and the time of his staff.

Notice the time frame. In this jail, the book was put out at 10:00am daily and taken by 2:00pm that means that we were not getting some names until the next day. The sheriff agreed to twice a week after 3:00 at 25.00 a docket, that was 50.00 weekly. This freed me to capture the names from the city jails. Not everyone arrested made it to the county jail. It took the other firms almost 3 months to catch on. For three months we had that area on lock down. I also doubled back to jails after 5:00 and included those names in the days mailing. What time do most offices close? I dropped the mail at the main branch at the post office dock because we were usually past the regular time.

I agree with marketing the right way, however there are instances when it is appropriate to throw that Hail Mary pass.

It is Always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

http://www.LisaHenry.net