That was the question a really good client asked us the other day. He is a serial investor who likes to come into new or struggling companies and make them grow (emphasis on the “make”) by doing smart things. He doesn’t even call it marketing – he just calls it stuff.

He was in a hurry this day, and that’s all he had time to say, but his meaning was clear.

OK. That’s a good question. Here’s what I would tell him if he was a first-time client (he has actually brought us into three of his companies so far):

Own your space. Use all of the tools available to you – and that includes media outreach, social media, Google, direct mail, customer newsletters – to tell your market that you know what you’re doing, that you have momentum, and that you’re not going away.

Define market trends. Use what you know about the market today to predict what will happen next month and next year. Keep it credible, but don’t be afraid to take a flier sometimes.

Think like your customer. This is the big one. Stop talking about your products, with all their bells and whistles. Your biggest competitor probably has roughly the same service offerings. Talk about why it matters to the customer, the client, the end user. How does your stuff make it easier for them to sell their stuff?

Looking at it that way, it’s pretty simple.