Chances are you are making one or more of these mistakes in your marketing. Knowing what they are can make all the difference.
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Over the last few 15 years in business, I’ve seen a lot of good and bad. I’ve attended a lot of learning events, lead workshops, consulted and spoken at numerous events. I’ve had the opportunity to observe what others say and do.
Maybe you’ve got it together all of the time, but from my view, pretty much everyone blunders at some point.
I’ve even made these mistakes myself over the years.
These marketing blunders apply to anyone who owns a business, is an entrepreneur, or works in sales or marketing.
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Targeting Everyone
If you are unclear about who you want to attract and why, you will attract either no one or you will attract far too many of the wrong people. Attracting the wrong people consumes excessive resources and fools you into thinking your marketing is working.
You need to get precise about who your perfect client is. When you do, you can more effectively spend money on marketing and achieve better results. Let’s face it, most of us don’t have huge pots of money to throw around.
The other cool thing is that your perfect clients will resonate more strongly with your message because you are talking directly to them.
Looking In All The Wrong Places
This happens for three reasons:
- You don’t know who your perfect client is,
- You don’t know where they hang out,
- You are letting your personal biases affect where you go.
All three of these apply online and offline.
If you don’t know where your perfect clients are, you need to find out and then be there. The audience and communication style is quite different on LinkedIn versus Facebook. The same holds true for different events.
You may be attending networking events that are easy to get into that are filled with people you know. But if your perfect clients don’t go there, or the people who attend aren’t likely to interact with them, you are probably deluding yourself. Make sure that you are networking and not prospecting those events, or you may be missing that opportunity.
Don’t let your personal biases get in the way of business success.
Eggs All in One Basket
What would happen to you if LinkedIn or Facebook deleted your account? Most people would lose access to a large part of their network. This could mean a big loss in revenue.
You don’t own the data on most social media platforms. Make sure your key database is somewhere where you do. If you pay for a CRM system or an email list building tool, you at least own the data.
Regarding social media, it is a good idea to have at least three platforms where you build connections with people. The key is selecting channels where your perfect clients are likely to be.
Selling In A Networking Zone
I was recently talking to a person in sales. The company he works for has a policy against using social media or other online channels to promote or sell the business and its services. They want to maintain brand consistency and mitigate risk.
This is not uncommon.
But this does not mean you can’t network on all of your normal channels.
True networking is about building relationships and giving. Eventually, people will give back, and you can make appointments for meetings or phone calls to move the conversation forward or get referrals.
Not having this crutch can make you a stronger networker because you can’t rely on broadcasting your message. Most online marketers are lazy that way.
So turn this disadvantage into a strength.
Plan A Doesn’t Exist
Most of the small businesses I observe don’t have a marketing strategy or plan. If they did, they don’t follow it. Most of the initiatives are ad hoc tactics that don’t coherently work together or support each other.
Often people delegate marketing in bits and pieces. The scary part is that it sometimes ad hoc marketing works. This leads to further complacency.
Having a coherent marketing strategy, plan and following it up with great implementation can change the game for a business. Maximizing your marketing efficiency flows through directly into your bottom line.
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Have you fallen into any of these blunders or seen others do so? What are you actively doing to improve your marketing effectiveness?
This post originally appeared on The Good Men Project.
Image credits (modified): Top Flickr/Robbert van der Steeg
