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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from by Tara Rodden Robinson

When it comes right down to it, marketing is really simple: it’s the process of getting people to know, like, and trust you on the way to buying or hiring. If you’re a small business owner and wearing every single hat in your business (not to mention a bunch from home, too) then marketing isn’t simple at all. It’s a complex set of strategies and tactics that you have to design and implement, make time for and keep up with, and monitor in a way that allows you to know whether or not it’s working.

There’s good news, though: you can harness the power of GTD to move your marketing forward and grow your business. Here’s how.

Marketing is a project that is never completed

The first thing to remember is that marketing is never done. It’s a role or an area of focus (which puts in at the 20K horizon of focus). There will be next-actions, projects, and goals that you complete, yes. But as long as you’re in business, you’ll need some marketing to keep the leads–and the cash–flowing.

Get clear on your vision of success. In this case, ask yourself what successful marketing looks like to you. Harken back to the idea of know, like, and trust on the way to a decision about buying or hiring. When leads are moving along the path from first introduction to you or your products, what are the signs of success at each step along the way?

Don’t censor your vision on your thoughts about what’s likely, possible, or feasible. Don’t worry about how. Just create a rich, compelling vision of success.

Once you’ve got your vision of success pinned down (you did that step, right?), look at your current process and find one aspect of what’s happening now that you want more of. For example, let’s say you’re getting some leads from Twitter. You’d like more of those. So focus your attention on those leads–how can you serve those leads even better? Poll them–ask what enticed them to want to learn more. And then do that.

Finally, choose a handful of tactics that you can implement consistently. If it’s blogging, then set your writing schedule and post–come what may. If it’s Twitter, then tweet regularly. Put those tasks into your trusted system, just like you do any other next-action, and plow through them. Or create a checklist. Either way, use your GTD skills to get your marketing done. Every day.

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About the Author
Known as The Productivity Maven, Tara Rodden Robinson is an author, coach, and educator. You can learn more about her here: Tara Robinson.com.