By Amanda Travis, for Bank Marketing News

Tampa, Florida/February 26, 2009: Seems like almost everyday, new technologies, trends and opportunities present themselves as means to reach potential customers.  This flood of information can be overwhelming to a marketer in deciding where to start, how to learn the technology, and how much is enough to reach your target market.

By being in a down market, marketers are faced with the added concern of not having the available funds.  Alyssa Dver, author of No Time Marketing: Small Business-sized Steps in 30 Minutes or Less, recommends clearing out the distracting clutter by focusing your time on building and working a solid marketing plan focused on the fundamentals.

Dver addressed bankers in the Webcast, Don't Do Any Marketing, Until You Hear This, hosted by OnsiteConference, Inc. a privately held research marketing firm located in Tampa, Florida.

Dver, Chief Executive of Mint Green Marketing, appreciates "that marketers need to get big sales results with as little effort and expense as possible."  This begins with the importance of distilling marketing down to a basic definition.

"Marketing identifies, attracts, fosters and retains qualified sales leads,"offers Dver. Using that basic definition of marketing as a starting point, Dver then recommends building a marketing plan following the eight steps of her "No Time Cure."

Dver's eight steps of her No Time Cure include:

Step 1: Do a Marketing Inventory. Dver uses "30 Magic Questions" to help create the inventory, which may be summarized into five general categories:

• Your prospects and customers

• The buying process

• Your marketing channels

• Your competition

• Your market

Step 2: Fill in the Missing Answers - Look back over your inventory and do not leave any questions unanswered.  Do the research on those specific areas.

Step 3: Develop Powerful Positioning and Messaging - A positioning statement is one simple sentence that says, "what you provide, why is it the best, who it benefits and how."

Step 4: Validate Pricing - Know whether it is supporting or hurting your marketing plan and understand your Cost, Competition, Customers, and be willing to review it frequently to allow Change.

Step 5: Acquire New Leads (Push Marketing) -Once you understand your target market, Push Marketing is putting your name in front of them when they are not looking for it.  A few examples are advertising, direct mail, internet newsletters, and tradeshows.

Step 6: Foster Leads (Pull Marketing) - Pull Marketing is when your company is known by the target market and you put the right processes in front of them to help them make a decision to buy.   This can be done with brochures, websites, presentations, phone call follow-ups, etc.

Step 7: Create a Defendable Marketing Plan - Your marketing plan should be presented not written.  This gives you the opportunity to talk it out and defend it.

Step 8: Refine Plan Over Time - Keep your plan up to date and review the 30 Magic Questions to know if they are still valid.

Dver concluded by saying, "With new technologies in the market, and often a flood of new information, it is easy to be distracted from the basics of who to market to and how to market to them. It is best to think through the process, clear out the clutter, and apply your money and time to a solid marketing plan."

For more information on the eight steps of the No Time Cure, visit www.notimemarketing.com and No Time Marketing: Small Business-sized Steps in 30 Minutes or Less, by Alyssa Dver.