If you’re feeling the pinch of reduced cash flow and overwhelming choices in the marketing of your business, it can be easy to overlook the simple things you can do to improve your positions. One of those simple things is taking some time to think about your marketing mindset. I am not referring to positive thinking, though that does have its place in most successful business operations. In this case I am referring to how your marketing mindset affects your relationship and positioning within your market.

When you’re in the midst of ordering stock, training staff and dealing with bookwork – it can be easy to lose sight of marketing priorities. And yet, without an efficient, effective marketing system, the best products and services can go unseen to the people that matter. Changing the questions you answer in your marketing can help you develop the right system for your business. That’s what good marketing is all about at its core.

If you find your main line of questions center on “How can I get these people to buy?” or some variation along the same theme, you will find that shifting your thinking can help you re-position your business into a supporting role in your customers lives. Any business can benefit from becoming a habit rather than a have-to. And you can accomplish that by changing the substance of the questions you ask yourself when you are developing your marketing promotions. By altering your questions and focusing on the desires and expectations of your customers, you’ll find yourself developing effective marketing promotions through small business marketing advice that meet the needs of your marketplace and help you achieve both your short-term objectives and long-term goals.

It can be hard to remember, but buying is an emotional process, not a logical one. Unless you are a commodity business, feeling and perception will have more impact than price. Your job is to build, cultivate and communicate messages that resonate with your customers and meet their needs. It really is as simple as that. Asking the right questions can help you get to the emotional needs of your customers and add value to every purchase and build towards the next one.

The beauty of adapting this sort of small business marketing advice is that it doesn’t have to cost any more than you currently spend and, if done well, over time will end up costing you less. You can regain control of your marketing messages and start focusing your energies on methods that really work for you and your customers. It really takes the guesswork out of marketing.

Change doesn’t have to be complicated.

The easiest way to get your marketing in line with your customers’ expectations is to complete a marketing audit and analyze it for ways you can add value for your customers and measurement tools to your marketing toolkit. There are probably at least a dozen simple things you can do today to increase the odds of business increasing tomorrow. In many cases, just the act of completing a simplified marketing audit can reveal leaks and opportunities in your existing marketing funnel.  Just remember to keep it simple and take one bite at a time.

Editor’s Note: Patrysha Korchinski is an integrated marketing consultant specializing in co-operative marketing campaigns for small business owners serving local markets and can be reached through her website at http://pkmarketingsolutions.com