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Twelve
Marketing Mistakes That You Must Avoid In Your Business
By:
Michael E. Nelson
Ready
to grow your business through the roof?
This report is written for the small business
owner, and is intended to point out the tremendous
opportunity in small business today, with a heightened
awareness of the valuable role of the marketing function
in a company. Marketing
should be viewed as the sum total of everything that you
do to position the perceived value of your products and
services in the minds of your best prospects (and existing
customers).
If
you are making just one the “mistakes” you could be
missing the best growth opportunities in your business.
There are numerous other marketing related mistakes
made by several businesses.
These twelve areas reflect the most common areas.
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1. Not having
a solid framework or marketing strategy in place:
Most
business owners do not have a solid plan in place for
growing (or sustaining) the business.
In many cases it’s floating around in the minds
of a few key players and sometimes those ideas differ.
A basic marketing plan is necessary, with goals,
metrics, a budget and a set of programs to continually
generate commerce for the company.
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2. Failing to
develop a unique selling proposition:
People
have many choices in the market place today.
All businesses have to answer the question:
Why should anyone do business with our company over
all the other choices available to them?
Do you have, or can you create a set of
differentiators giving your customers and prospects a
compelling reason to do business with you?
Your “USP” (Unique Selling Proposition) can set
you apart and can pre-empt or unseat the competition.
Remember, your fiercest competitors are actively
marketing to your best customers.
What are you doing to keep them?
Your USP is your best offense and defense.
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3. Not
practicing direct response marketing:
Image
marketing produces deferred and immeasurable results but
can be integrated into the marketing mix to support a
measurable campaign. Image
marketing by itself is just “luxury marketing” for
those large advertisers going after “mind share” or
building a brand. Most
small businesses need results – and direct response
advertising techniques are the answer.
Direct response advertising is designed to evoke an
immediate call to action, advancing the sales cycle to
the next step.
Shifting
from a “we have to keep our name out there” approach
to “we need to generate a measurable response from our
target market” will make a significant improvement in
your marketing leverage.
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4. Not
advertising or promoting the business properly – to your
target market:
You
have to examine how you are approaching your target
market. Does
the media you have selected reach the people you are
trying to reach? Does your message “speak to” your prospects and get them
to take action? Are
you appealing with an emotionally charged offer, or
promise of a benefit? A strong offer or appeal to the wrong person will not
generate results. Choose
your mailing list very carefully.
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5. Failing to
capture the names of your customers, and not maintaining a
segmented, current database of critical customer
information:
Think
about where you do business as a consumer.
Who does a good job of collecting information about
your purchase transaction (for the purpose of future
marketing efforts)? Very
few small businesses take the time or have the discipline. The best source of future revenue is your customer list.
Build a database, keep it current, and use it
wisely to grow your business.
Know your customers.
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6. Not
testing or measuring marketing & sales techniques:
Most
businesses do not test their marketing.
Rather, they spend their entire budget on one time
hunches or there is no system to measure and refine
results. Testing
one item at a time, against a control, will create greater
marketing leverage. Keep in mind that only the market place will determine what
works for us in marketing.
Our opinions are meaningless without testing.
Test headlines in sales letter or advertisement,
test prices and pricing methodology, sales pitches,
offers, lists, media, or your target prospect profile.
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7. Not having
a back-end profit strategy:
The
“back end” refers to the secondary and subsequent sale
to your customers. This
is where the true profits lie, due to the fact that the
customer acquisition cost was absorbed in the initial
sale. Acquire
the customer at break-even, slight profit, or even slight
loss – with a strategy that recognizes the value of the
back end sales opportunity.
A
back end strategy may include a low cost product or
service that starts the business relationship, and builds
trust and positions the value of your company for the
larger, higher ticket sale.
For example, a bicycle shop advertises a helmet
special, or accessory sale at unheard of prices will
generate leads for future sales of new bikes.
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8. Not
sticking with marketing programs that still work:
It’s
a fact that many business owners and marketers become
bored with their advertising long before the market place.
There are some ads – written by the world’s
best direct marketers – that have been running for 30-40
years, with the same headline, artwork, and call to
action. Open
your files, dust off your best ads, update them and run
them again.
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9. Not having
a system for generating referrals:
Once
a business has been established, a core group of satisfied
customer usually refers other to your company.
The single best strategy in earning referral sis to
serve your customers so well that they can not resist
telling others about your company.
For the most part, referrals just do not happen at
the pace you need. Stimulate referrals with a formal program.
Ask your customers “who else they may know who
also could benefit from the services you offer. Or, start a formal referral program, which should include an
extra benefit or incentive to your existing customers for
referring others who can benefit from your USP.
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10. Not
recognizing the lifetime value of a customer:
Most
businesses focus exclusively on maximizing profits on the
initial transaction, without focusing on the potential
revenue stream from that new customer over a customers
projected lifetime. Create
and use a Lifetime Value worksheet for calculating the
lifetime value of your customers.
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11. Delaying
marketing “until you need it” in your business:
Too
many business owners wait until the 11th hour
to begin thinking about marketing their businesses. The phone has stopped ringing, traffic has stopped, and
there’s no cash flow.
Since marketing is not an event but a set of
activities and programs to promote the business.
Marketing is not turned on and off like a light
switch. Marketing
programs should be running year round, or ahead of any
seasonal lulls in the business.
Marketing takes time.
Don’t wait until it’s too late!
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12. Relying
on only one marketing method to promote the business:
Companies
cannot afford to rely on only one marketing technique to
generate customers. The
value of having several working marketing programs in
place is that as programs start to weaken or run their
cycle, other programs will continue to bring in new (and
repeat) customers.
Bonus
# 1: Failure
to leverage goodwill with the customer base (referrals
& additional business).
Bonus
# 2: Failure
to secure and use testimonials to communicate to
prospects.
Bonus
# 3: Not
having a closed loop system to generate, manage, and
measure qualified leads for the sales force.
Michael
E. Nelson is an experienced entrepreneur, inventor and
marketing guru providing consulting to small business
owners who have a sense of urgency toward achieving their
person and business goals, and for realizing their vision
for the business. Specializing
in Internet (Web Based) direct and Search Engine Marketing
and employing direct marketing techniques to grow a
business and increase profits, and offers a complete set
of marketing services:
ð
Marketing Strategy & Planning
ð
Marketing Program Design &
Implementation
ð
Direct Marketing Services
ð
Copywriting & Advertising Design
ð
Telemarketing Follow-up & Database
Services
ð
Program Measurement & Evaluation
ð
Specializing in Online Internet Marketing:
Presentation of products/services
ð
Developing strategies to achieve unusually
high ROI in web marketing
ð
Strategy Creation for achieving results
through Internet Search Engines
Marketing
Action Plan Checklist
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We have a good profile of our target
customer/market
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We have developed a powerful USP & told
it to our best customers
q
We measure our marketing results
q
We have calculated the lifetime value of a
customer
q
We know our CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) of a
new Customer
q
Focused on customer retention &
know which customer bring us 80% of our revenue
q
We know which products & services are
responsible for 80% of revenue
q
We have an active referral program
q
We mail regularly to our best customers
q
We have a solid front-end/back-end sales
strategy
q
We have an up-to-date customer database (and
back it up OFF SITE)!
q
Our employees & contractors have the
resources to do their jobs well, & HAPPY!
q
We have numerous testimonials, & use them
throughout our marketing and sales.
q
We have an effective lead generation &
management System.
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