To be successful, every business needs a written business plan, marketing plan and credit plan. Without even one of these plans, your business is losing money. Even when the economy is booming, you want to save time and money.

One of the first things many business owners cut from their budget when times are tough is their marketing, many businesses don’t even have a marketing plan. This is a huge mistake. When the economy is in crisis, that is the most important time to market your business. Many businesses don’t have a marketing plan because they don’t know what a marketing plan is or how to write one.

Award winning author Michelle Dunn has written an e-book to help you have a marketing plan starting today. With Starting a Business with Michelle Dunn – Book 1, The Marketing Plan, you will use the worksheets to fill in the blanks and have your own personalized marketing plan that is specific to your business in no time at all.

“Now is the time to pump up your marketing efforts and having a plan in place can help you be successful and market your business in ways that cost little or are free”, says Dunn. “With Book 1 of my Starting a Business series you can fill in the blanks and have a marketing plan for your business that is customized and ready to use beginning today.”

“Being a business owner myself I know how important this is to the livelihood of all of our businesses, and with this new e-book you will be able to save time and money, increase your profits and increase your income.” states Dunn. “Save yourself an enormous amount of time with this easy to use 15 page workbook. It is my belief that this e-book will jumpstart how you look at your business, and really help you to make a difference in your marketing strategies and ideas, resulting in added exposure, more business and more sales.”

Eric Shanfelt wrote a great article in the December 2008 issue of Publishing Executive.  He talks about a web traffic comparison tool called Compete.com.

I checked it out and it is a really cool tool that you can use to see how well your website is doing against your competitions.  Compete.com’s unique vistor report tracks the performance of your site versus your competitors.

Kind of scary sharing these things with strangers….please share some thoughts so I know you will still come back and read my blog!

Know of any more?  Please share them with us!  Leave your comment below!

So many people purchase my Marketing Success System Special Report that I figure many more want it and maybe can’t afford it in these tough times.  SO….I am holding a contest so you can win a free copy of my Marketing Success System Special Report by answering a question in this post. How easy!

The first 5 (YES FIVE!!) people to answer this correctly will WIN a copy of my Marketing Success System Special Report. I will email the 5 lucky winners with the report attached to an email.

Okay, here is the question:
Can you name 3 ways you can use a blog to market your business, books or products?
Leave your answers below in the comments and keep checking back to see what great answers we get. If you are one of the lucky winners, I will email you your report and I will post your answers in an upcoming blog post and include a plug for your book, business or product! How great is that?

Maybe you don’t make resolutions, I know I don’t.  But I do set goals. Do you set goals for your marketing?

Please share your marketing goals with us, maybe we can help each other to keep our goals and stay on track which can only help us all be more successful.I know when I have to answer to someone I get more done.

One of my goals is to publish the first book in my Mosquito Marketing Series, Mosquito Marketing for Authors.  I have already begun working on the marketing plan that I wrote for it, and am very excited about the project.

What are your goals for 2009?

My first book in my Mosquito Marketing Series will be published in 2009! Yay!

I will keep you updated on the status, but it is back from the editor and some changes are being made. I will then be formatting the MS and getting quotes from printers.

I will keep you updated as I progress because I just can’t keep it to myself! I think this book will help more and more authors to really work on their marketing strategies and plan for big publicity. I am so excited to publish this book and help more people.

As we start 2009, I want to thank some people who have helped me tremendously not just in 2008 but since 1998 when I first started my own business.  Without these people, their books, blogs and websites, I would never be as successful as I am today.

Dan Poynter – One of my favorite author’s who has always been gracious enough to share information, he has produced more than 76 books so far. When I published my first book I used Dan’s best seller The Self-Publishing Manual to guide me and still use it today.  Dan has received awards for his work and is a past vice-president of PMA.

John Kremer – Editor, Book Marketing Update and author of the wildly popular 1001 Ways to Market Your Books.  I have used John’s book for years and if you have read it you know what I mean when I say, it is a must have.  If you are into book marketing, selling your books, book publishing, self-publishing, book promotion, free publicity, e-publishing, selling e-books, print-on-demand, POD publishing, writing books, internet marketing, online book publishing, website promotions, writing novels, or promoting books — and you want some free information and resources to help you sell books.

Penny C. Sansevieri is the CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. Turning Authors into Success Stories. Penny is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. Her company researched, developed and implemented the first comprehensive Internet publicity campaign called The Virtual Author Tour™.

Stephanie Chandler – A small business expert, author, freelance writer and skilled public speaker. Stephanie is the founder of www.BusinessInfoGuide.com , a directory of free resources for entrepreneurs.  She is also the owner of Book Lovers Bookstore in Sacramento, CA.

Kathleen Gage – The “Street Smarts Speaker” and author of the Amazon.com best seller “The Law of Achievement” , Kathleen is a marketing, promotions and success author.

Nikki Leigh – Author and owner of The Readers Station, a place to learn more about books and the authors who write them. Offering articles, contests and a book promotion forum.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson – Author,THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON’T; Winner USA Book News’ “Best Professional Book 2004″and Book Publicists of Southern California’s Irwin Award.

Here’s to a GREAt 2008 and a FINE 2009! Cheers!