For a smaller business, you’re probably not going to invest in a national television ad campaign; you’re going to TARGET your efforts to more likely potential customers. Do you have the tools to do that?

Those tools may fall into three major categories:

This first category: these are the kinds of tools that lay the foundation or help you create a presence for your firm that appeals to your target audiences:

• A revealing logo
• A tagline
• A CRM to track your customer and potential customer contact and contact information
• A website

The second category: these are the kinds of tools that help you reach out to your target audiences:

• Advertising
• Email marketing
• Direct mail
• Press releases

The third category: these are the tools that help you build stronger relationships with clients:

• Trade show or conference participation
• Blog contribution or white papers
• Capabilities materials, like PowerPoint presentations, a quick snapshot of your capabilities, a brochure – all the things that you might send to prospects to help them better understand how you make their lives easier

Do you see any obvious holes in your marketing toolbox? Missing any tools? If you want to reach members of a particular trade organization, have you joined the association? attended functions? sponsored events? taken advantage of member outreach? What tools do you need to support those efforts? You’ll need tools from each category. Once you’ve identified any disconnects in your messaging (see “ Are you avoiding a marketing audit?”) and any missing tools in your marketing toolbox, it’s time to develop a communications strategy. A communications strategy serves as a guidepost to ensure that your messaging stays on track and is exposed to the right audiences in order to help meet your business objectives. Learn more about a simple and fun technique to get started. (See “What am I?”)