Like anyone else who has read articles and books on marketing, you begin to realize that marketing is like breathing - you are doing it when you don't even realize it.

Spending my days running a business and trying to balance it with a personal life outside of the office, I often regret not having the time to market my firm in new and better ways. It isn't something I enjoy admitting, but at times I have felt that our firm succeeds despite my marketing techniques. Finally, my marketing guilt forced me to take some time and analyze where our strengths are and where we need to improve.

Like anyone else who has read articles and books on marketing, you begin to realize that marketing is like breathing - you are doing it when you don't even realize it. The last client well served and the last phone call to thank a supplier for a job well done are all part of your firm's marketing strategy. The best marketing in the world is a happy client and a supportive network of suppliers and businesses that helps you continue to serve your clients. Every word spoken about your business is part of your marketing plan - good or bad.

With all of the changes in the marketplace and the high cost of conventional marketing, businesses have been forced to consider alternative strategies. These new strategies are evident when we see a soda can on a sitcom with the label facing the camera, or an on-line survey asking you how you spend your dollars. It makes you wonder how a smaller business can use the same new outlets that the big guns employ.

But new ways to reach clients are hitting your mail, inbox and TV every day. One designer started an on-line blog for design tips and had an Internet presence as an expert before she knew it. She has since produced Internet newsletters and built a business as a consultant and speaker. It started small but grew into a major part of her business because on the Web, small businesses can appear large and knowledgeable. Colleagues of mine have started out merely interested in a subject and, through research and opportunities, made a career based on expertise in an area like sustainability or universal design.

Building an expertise or specialty is an effective and profitable part of businesses. If you are the go-to source for information on sustainability, as Interface Flooring has become, you are also more likely to be specified as the sustainable product supplier of choice. Ray Anderson, CEO of Atlanta-based Interface, has a burning passion to leave the world a better place through effective use of the world's resources; this passion has become his success.

This was not a business strategy in the beginning, but simply a desire to do the right thing as a company. The result is a company known for caring about the environment, as well as its clients. Following your own passions first makes for marketing success, because it is hard to fake caring about what you do. If you can believe first, the sell comes naturally and the marketplace feels your authenticity.

We find ourselves fascinated by Oprah's "Favorite Things" shows, in which entrepreneurs receive the icon's stamp of approval and become overnight millionaires. It may seem like fate made the magic happen, but the entrepreneur's original passion to do something extraordinarily well has found a market niche. People consider quality, value, intelligence and responsibility in their purchase decisions more than ever. Tapping into these decisions is our challenge as professionals.

The mention of a chair or set of sheets in an article by Martha Stewart or in any well-regarded magazine can have a tremendous effect. The placement of your products and how you interface with media make a larger and larger impact on your bottom line. The beginning of the strategy is to believe in what you do, the next is to get the word out.

Utilizing professional associations as network opportunities, sponsoring industry events or underwriting a continuing education unit on a subject that ties into your business all can help build your reputation. If you have wondered why someone else has attained success, look to where they go and whom they spend time with and the success will not seem so mysterious.

As a designer, I have noticed companies that try a new approach every year without sticking to a consistent strategy or niche. Each year at NeoCon, they change venues and types of products to the point they lose their core identity. To try to make your company the source for hospitality design one year and healthcare products the next is impossible.

Designers have a limited amount of time to follow the current marketing trend of a company; to be known for something and do it well is an old, but still-valuable key to success. If your product is healthcare-related, getting involved in healthcare professional groups and teaching designers about successful healing through the use of your products is better than switching horses in mid-stream. Keeping me updated as a designer and providing customer service are more important to me than any new slant a business can come up with. My clients need those same guarantees from my firm - to not abandon the ship for the latest opportunity and to continue to service them well.

Although I hate to admit it, we can even learn from the marketing of products some of us ourselves do not enjoy. Manufacturers of tobacco and alcohol have learned how to market during tough times and in a shrinking, often hostile marketplace. They offer points programs, member clubs and communicate often with their existing client base. They sponsor races and other events they know fit their clients' desires. I think it is interesting that they respond to a limited market by growing a sense of community.

With a slowdown in the real estate market, how can we find ways to build a community among our existing clients? How should we communicate more through personal letters and other ways of building a sense of knowing our customer intimately? Is a personal letter such a strange event in our lives that it is noticed more than many newer forms of communication?

My husband volunteers to interview young people who are considering attending his university alma mater. He spends time getting to know and mentoring the high school students. Recently, he received a lengthy thank-you letter from the parents of a graduating college student. They thanked him for helping their son find this fine university and noted what a special place it had been in their lives. It amazed me how important that one sheet of paper was to my husband. I am sure it will be saved in a special place at his office. How much affection and goodwill was brought into my home by a simple thank-you letter! How can we all personalize our messages for such direct and meaningful communications?

One interior designer hosts a yearly Valentine's Day party so his clients can meet each other. He had often wished that some of his clients or friends knew each other, and decided it would benefit them to meet. It became a grand, anticipated yearly event. He found a simple way to demonstrate a sense of caring and thanks; and, I imagine, it was simpler than organizing 20 separate dinner dates a year. How smart to realize your clients want to meet and market themselves and that you can facilitate it for them.

Building our network and personalizing our businesses is my strategy for the upcoming year. We cannot make our firm something it is not, but we can make others realize what it is and communicate the services we offer that can change their lives.

Juliana M. Catlin, FASID, is founder and president of Catlin Interiors Inc. For more information, call 904-396-5522.