So where does this leave you? With the need to avoid marketing mistakes at all costs. Here are the top ten mistakes to avoid at all costs:
Mistake #1: Betting the Ranch on an Unproven Product or Service
Entrepreneurs are by nature optimistic. But don’t let your optimism run away with your reason. Before you invest big money launching a new product or service, do some initial concept testing. Will prospects react favorably? Even research won’t tell you this for sure. But at least you’ll have greater assurance that the marketplace is ready for your idea.
Mistake #2: Not Defining Your Target Market
Introducing a product or service into a vast, untargeted marketplace is folly. People are different, so never expect everyone to like your product equally. Take the time to segment your marketplace carefully, understand the unique requirements of each segment, and determine the best niche or niches for your offering.
Mistake #3: Not Having a Marketing Plan
Entrepreneurs are famous for flying by the seat of their pants. But marketing is too complicated to lurch from one uncoordinated action to another. Develop a comprehensive plan that works back from your marketing strategy and objectives to the detailed activities necessary to launch the product into the marketplace. It goes without saying that a marketing plan should also include a marketing budget and tactical calendar.
Mistake #4: Not Thinking Through Your Brand Messaging
Mistake #4: Not Thinking Through Your Brand Messaging
What does your company truly stand for? How does each product or service link with an overall brand message. Not coming up with a creative branding strategy means you’ll be ill-equipped to executive a premium pricing strategy.
Mistake #5: Not Having an Integrated Marketing Communications Approach
Prospects have different preferences for how they want companies to engage with them. Some prefer to check out a company’s web site. Others may prefer visiting its Facebook Fan page. Yet others may just want to read a print brochure. The point is, you need a multi-faceted approach to engaging with your prospects. What’s more, the messaging across all these platforms must link to the brand image and be consistent across platforms.
Mistake #6: Not Investing in Professionally Designed Marketing Materials
As small buiness people, it’s all too easy to be penny wise and pound foolish. One area often skimped on is the design of professional web sites, stationery, and collateral. Don’t go there! Nothing conveys a worse impression than amateurishly designed marketing materials.
Mistake #7: Not Tracking the Effectiveness of Your Marketing Tactics
Back in the day, advertising was hard to track. So small business owners had great difficulty evaluating the ROI of their media investments. Today, however, with the dominance of e-mail marketing, pay-per-click, and social media marketing, every prospect action can be measured and evaluated. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to optimize your marketing investment through better tracking.
Mistake #8: Not Marketing from the Outside In
A common mistake is to talk about product features and company highlights rather than customer needs. In other words, companies often build their marketing from the inside out rather than from the outside in. This is guaranteed to produce sub-optimal (read: horrible!) results.
Mistake #9: Not Adopting a Continuous Improvement Mindset
When a marketing tactic is successful, the temptation is to stay with it forever. However, testing a successful tactic or message against other options will generate incremental improvements. Greater marketers never stop placing and evaluating new bets!
Mistake #10: Getting Comfortable with Yesterday’s Technology
Once upon a time, small businesses used fax machines for marketing. Today, they use e-mail, pay-per-click, and Facebook ads. To avoid becoming obsolete in the marketplace, the biggest mistake of all, you need to stay current with the latest marketing technology. Social media is hot right now, but what will replace it in the future?
So there you have it! Ten mistakes small business must avoid in order to thrive in the markets of tomorrow. Good luck, and here’s to effective marketing!