"Most people miss opportunity because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison

A common question from entrepreneurs and marketing professionals is where to set the marketing budget. I wish I could give you a simple answer, but the truth is there is no one-size-fits-all amount. Since businesses and industries differ widely, it's important to look at the maturity of the business, the level of competition, revenue goals, desired positioning and other factors, like how new you are to market.

Sometimes even within the same industry marketing spending can vary due to different goals and objectives. For example, Wal-Mart spends 0.3% of its revenues on marketing while Target spends 2.5%. The reason is Target's business strategy is to position itself as upscale and exclusive (which requires reinforcement) while Wal-Mart's positioning is based strictly on low prices.

Many entrepreneurs calculate all their costs and profit, and then use what is left over for marketing, which is NOT a good strategy. A better approach is to consider the factors I've described above to see where you might fall in the generally established range of 2% to 10% of sales. If you're looking to launch a new product or grow aggressively you'd be in the higher end of the range. If your product is well established and faces little competition, you'd be in the lower end. Often people focus on saving money when it comes to marketing, but there are serious risks of spending too little. Remember, if done properly, your investment in marketing will pay for itself by taking your business to new heights. After all, that's exactly what good marketing is designed to do.

This article may be reprinted when the copy right and author bio are included.

©2009 Barbara Wayman, BlueTree Media, LLC.

Barbara Wayman, APR, president of BlueTree Media, LLC, publishes The Stand Out Newsletter, a free monthly ezine for people who want to know how to leverage the power of marketing and public relations. Get your free subscription today at http://BlueTreeMedia.com/ezine.html

Business is all about marketing your products effective to generate sales and revenue. Marketing is all about reading the customers mind and catering to his needs and what he desires. Wrong marketing can define death of any business before it even grows. Therefore marketing to the right customers and getting a perfect marketing plan is extremely important to any business. Read on to discover some steps on how to write a perfect marketing plan.

Understand you goals- This is what you need to clearly understand before preparing any marketing plan. You need to clearly define where you business wants to go from its present position and in what time frame.

Capital- Under this step you need to determine how much capital is required to run the business successfully and how you would raise this capital. Raising the capital can be in several forms such as a loan from a bank or a private financial institution, Getting into partnerships with people interested in investing in the business or raising the capital through public shares in case it's a joint stock corporation.

Research- Under this step you would research the market for the specific product you might be willing to sell or promote. This would involve market and consumer suvey whereby you inquire about what the consumer is looking for, what type of products are already available in the market, how you can improvise on the short comings of your competitor and build a better product to capture his market share and consumer base.

Write down the steps- This is a part where you need to make specific steps you would take in order to achieve your goals. This may involve the markets you would target, the type of consumer, who you would sell to and what area of the market you would capture. This would be an action plan where you specify the steps which are needed to be followed in order to achieve the specified goals.

Have a plan "B"- It's not always necessary that any plan or actions you might follow would be successful. Sometimes circumstances or the market conditions do not favor a certain plan and it can lead to big losses for the business. Therefore it is always good to be prepared with a plan "B" which can implemented instantly in such a situation.

Marketing is the final step which determines the success or failure of any business. A wrong marketing plan can flush a business down the drain. Therefore it's always recommended that a marketing plan should be carefully prepared with proper research, steps and planning to get the maximum results.

The real secret- There is a secret which would help you attain tremendous success in every aspect of life. This is one of the most shocking truths ever made public. You are one of the few people who are being introduced to this great secret. Read on to discover- The Great Secret

When investing in sports, a marketer is often faced with the alternative to use exclusively media, or an integrated platform of media and sponsorship. One of the most valuable components of the sponsorship alternative is hospitality, which has long been an underutilized and misunderstood tool by marketers.

The changing climate of hospitality at the marquee sports events in North America (The Masters, Super Bowl and Final Four) will soon change the lack of focus that hospitality has received by marketers.

Traditionally most of the damage was done due to the confusion of hospitality as a marketing function or a sales function. Sales people grew too accustomed to sports tickets and often hosted friends or long term and stable clients for which they already shared a strong relationship. Marketers would stand at a distance and encourage high opportunity clients as guests, but would do little to help in the selection of guests or in the post event reporting of sales lift.

This era is quickly coming to an end. Today, hospitality offers marketers a rare opportunity to accurately measure sales lift and in turn a marketing ROI. For sales people, the market for hospitality is maturing. Easy access to big sporting events is a thing of the past. Ticket allocation is monitored closely and access is limited.

If you haven't already heard about the Mike Tice incident (former coach of the Minnesota Vikings), he was heavily fined and reprimanded by the NFL for scalping his Super Bowl tickets which were provided by the league. The NFL was the first to launch an official program, unable to resist the secondary market pricing of their tickets for the Super Bowl. This level of regulation and surveillance is not limited to the NFL. The Masters, U.S. Open and now the NCAA have all followed suit by denying third party vendors the ability to profit from their product.

In 2006, when the NCAA launched their own official hospitality program, dubbed "The Tournament Club", they hired rEvolution to not only run the program, but to aid in their efforts to regulate third party vendors. The result is that significantly fewer tickets find their way to the public. This means more than increased prices for Joe Fan who wants to see his team in the big game. It means an increased risk in dealing with ticket brokers and third party vendors. In turn the hospitality component of a sponsorship has become that much more valuable.

In this new hospitality climate if your sales organization wants to entertain at the most exclusive and premier events in the U.S., they have two reliable alternatives. One is a massive investment in an official sponsorship with the governing body of the sport (anywhere from $5 - $100 million per year) and the second is the purchase of official hospitality directly from the governing body (prices range from $3,000 - $8,000 per attendee). One option requires a Fortune 500 marketing budget and offers no solution for a B2B marketer. The second option, although not cheap, is fast becoming the reliable and cost effective alternative.

So the question remains, is hospitality a sales or marketing function. If it's not clear already, the answer is both. To satisfy the return on investment and accomplish your firm's goals, marketing has to work in conjunction with sales to provide access to premier events. In turn, the sales organization must think and act like marketers conducting one on one brand building and in turn increasing sales.

The necessary budget is large and the access has become increasingly scarce. If you are going to take the plunge, it would be wise to do your homework and start with the official governing body. If a sponsorship doesn't make sense and you can't gain access through an existing media buy, call the official vendor. And finally, make sure your marketing organization is communicating with the sales team.

ABOUT rEVOLUTION - rEvolution is the only independent and fully-integrated sports marketing and media services agency in the industry. rEvolution utilizes a global array of sporting events, leagues, teams and athletes to enhance the growth of its clients' consumer and business-to-business brands. Chicago-based with an international vision and reputation, rEvolution's unique integrated capabilities model includes strategic consulting for program design, program activation and program measurement across a comprehensive list of services (including corporate hospitality, event management, media buying/selling/planning, mobile marketing, promotions, research, software solutions, and sponsorships ) and specialties (such as action/youth sports, collegiate sports, international sports, lifestyle sports, motorsports, Olympics, and professional sports). Unencumbered by a network of holding company interests to consider, rEvolution joins forces with clients in creating and implementing innovative business-building ideas. An unprecedented team of industry experts, collectively possessing more than 100 years of global sports-related, consulting and platform development experience and relationships, lead rEvolution's highly skilled team of professionals. More information about rEvolution and the unique experiences they have created and executed is available at www.revolutionworld.com.

Dan Lobring is Manager, Public Relations, at rEvolution, a Chicago-based sports marketing and media agency.

Are you stuck in that silly room off the corridor of success with all those losers who won't reach beyond themselves to find the Winning Number? It wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare! I was standing in a room full of angry accountants staring at a machine that gave out numbers. Every five minutes a woman came to the door and asked for #7.

As I pushed to the front of the room, I noticed the number on the machine said "7" and I looked around.

On the wall behind the machine was a sign that read "Please take a number and wait, you'll be called at the first available opening."

They all stared at the number, but none of them took it. I reached past a particularly healthy looking accountant with his black portfolio, bottle bottom glasses, and a scowl on his face to grab the slip of paper with the number 7 in one large red letter.

The door opened and the pleasant woman came into the room, clipboard in hand. "Number 7." She called out plainly.

I waved my ticket and she led me through the door into a fast moving corridor with huge green lights flashing in the distance. I took a deep breath and stepped out, realizing instantly that I was standing on a conveyer that would take me where I wanted to go.

Life is much like that room.

When we stand there waiting for something to happen, but don't make any effort ourselves to follow directions, we leave our success waiting just past the exit. We can't get past that room of gloom until we make that first effort and follow the directions to get out.

Are you tired of waiting in a room of scowling accountants?

You too can break free by just following the directions. Jan Verhoeff provides the solution, complete with directions for your marketing success strategies. Go to http://alistregistry.com and claim your FREE solution to breaking the Success Barrier of Online Marketing.

© 2007 - Jan Verhoeff