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Article Title:
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The 10 Deadly Small Biz Marketing Mistakes
Article Description:
====================
When asked what their questions were about marketing, one small
business owner said, "I'd like to know what not to do." Good
question. Most small business owners don't have much training in
marketing and do their best by following what other companies are
doing. The problem with this approach is that marketing is not a
"one size fits all" activity. In fact a lot of business owners
waste a tremendous amount of time and money on activities that
bring in little or no business.
Additional Article Information:
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1604 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line
Distribution Date and Time: 2006-07-26 12:36:00
Written By: Judy Murdoch
Copyright: 2006
Contact Email: mailto:judy@judymurdoch.com
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The 10 Deadly Small Biz Marketing Mistakes
Copyright � 2006 Judy Murdoch
Highly Contagious Marketing
http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
When asked what their questions were about marketing, one small
business owner said, "I'd like to know what not to do." Good
question. Most small business owners don't have much training in
marketing and do their best by following what other companies are
doing. The problem with this approach is that marketing is not a
"one size fits all" activity. In fact a lot of business owners
waste a tremendous amount of time and money on activities that
bring in little or no business.
The top ten marketing activities NOT to do if you're a small
business owner are:
1. DON'T buy an ad in a major newspaper
Unless of course, you want to spend your entire annual marketing
budget within 30-days and have very little to show for it. Nearly
every small business owner I've talked to has the same sad tale:
they spent hundreds, sometimes several thousand dollars for a
small ad, the ad ran and they got a paltry number of inquiries
and then nothing. Nada. Zip.
Advertising in major newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and
other publications can be very, very effective if you have strong
copy, good images, and can pay for the ad to run over a period of
days, weeks, even months. Most marketing, no matter how well
done, requires repeated impressions so that your audience will be
familiar enough and trust you enough to call.
2. DON'T create a brochure.
Especially using a template on Microsoft Word or Microsoft
Publisher. For one thing, you'll end up with a brochure that
looks like everyone else's. More importantly, unless you are a
skilled copywriter or have hired one, your brochure is likely to
be dry, boring, and will do very little to attract the attention
of your prospective customers.
By all means, do a brochure but wait until you're clear about
who your target market is, what they need, and how you are the
best one to provide it.
3. DON'T try to sell something to everyone
A lot of small businesses define their target customer as
"someone who is warm and still breathing." Bad idea.
It's understandable because no one wants to miss an opportunity
to make money. It's why you have a business, right?
Still, the idea that everyone is a potential customers leads to
two problems:
First, by trying to accommodate so many diverse needs, you end up
with mediocre products and services. In a competitive market,
mediocrity is not what people pay for; at least not a lot of
money for.
Second, If you're trying to sell to everyone, everyone selling
something even vaguely like what you're selling becomes a
competitor. There's little opportunity for collaboration; little
opportunity for developing strategic alliances. Finally, selling
a product that has been "averaged" to meet the needs of
everyone and doesn't stand out on its own puts you at risk for
selling a commodity. And, unless you plan to be the low cost
provider and can sell at incredibly low prices, that's a game
you don't want to get into.
4. DON'T feel compelled to use the "hot new thing" in your
marketing
It seems like every six months or so, there's a "hot new
technology" that you can exploit to "make millions." For
example, in 2003 it was blogs. In 2005 it's been podcasts. Less
technical but still hyped are postcard mailings.
Please.
Here's the point: all of these activities have merit and can
make your marketing more effective. However, no one technology is
going to "bring millions to your website!!!"
To make the most of any marketing activity or technology, you
first need to get clear on who your ideal customer is, what
products and services you sell, and the unique value you bring to
the table.
5. DON'T confuse marketing with marketing activities
When you hear the word, "marketing" what comes to mind? TV
commercials? Advertisements in magazines and newspapers?
Promotional knick knacks? ECommerce?
All of the above are valuable but they're not marketing. They
are activities that enable and support your marketing.
In my book, marketing is simply creating a connection between a
buyer and seller so that business transactions can occur.
You probably won't find this definition in any marketing
textbook. Yet, it's a very practical way to think about
marketing because it greatly expands the types of tools and
activities available to you.
6. DON'T perfect your marketing message before you let your
prospective customers see it
There are two reasons why this is not a good idea:
First, you will never do much marketing because you can't
perfect marketing in a vacuum. The effectiveness of any marketing
depends on whether it gets in front of the intended prospect,
captures their interest, and, elicits action. If prospective
customers never see your "imperfect" marketing, how will you
ever know what you need to do to perfect it?
Second, you won't have many customers, if any because without
marketing how will anyone know you exist? Businesses without
customers are usually called "bankrupt."
7. DON'T expect instant sales
Especially if the product or service you sell is expensive,
highly innovative, or requires a large commitment of time on the
customer's part.
Oftentimes, someone just starting a new business will get
terribly disappointed because they ran an ad or attended a
networking event, or sent out postcards and get very little
response. They get discouraged and perhaps stop any kind of
planned marketing.
Again, marketing is about developing relationships. Most people
need to be exposed to a consistent marketing messages at least
six times�more if you're selling a high ticket item before they
feel like they "know" and "trust" your company enough to take
the risk of purchasing.
8. DON'T try to "get" anything from your customer
Ever say something like "I need to get more customers"? No
doubt you've heard other people use the word "get" in this
way.
The word "get", to me, implies an adversarial relationship
between the seller and buyer. The seller wants to sell their
product or service to the customer so they can "get" money. It
also puts the focus on the seller when in fact, the focus belongs
on the buyer.
The truth is, people want to buy things. They like to buy things.
People especially want to buy things that will make their
problems go away or that will make them feel good.
Instead of trying to "get business" how about "developing"
relationships with potential customers by helping them get
something they want? The exact phrasing may not feel right for
you but it probably feels a lot better to think of yourself as
offering something so valuable that people truly WANT to buy from
you.
9. DON'T expect to get 100% of your business through referrals
At least not at the very beginning.
Many small business owners like to believe that all they have to
do is to do a really great job and word of mouth from their
current customers will bring all the business they can handle.
The truth is that while word of mouth marketing is probably one
of the most effective marketing for small business owners and
entrepreneurs, it takes a long time�at least a year�to develop
the critical mass of delighted customers needed to bring in
significant business.
While you are cultivating a group of very satisfied current and
former customers, you need to employ a variety of marketing
activities to bring those customers your way. In addition, most
businesses, even those who have lots of loyal customers singing
their praises, take an active role in managing what their
customers are saying in the marketplace. Activities such as
keeping in touch, rewarding and acknowledging customers who bring
in referrals, asking directly for referrals, and educating
referral sources so that they can spot potential customers,
encourage and support your word of mouth marketing machine to
work for you.
10. DON'T cold call
Most business owners hate to make cold calls but many do because
it seems like the best way to bring in new business.
Guess what. There are more effective ways to bring in new
business. Effective meaning the payback that you get for your
time, money and energy. Developing business based on word of
mouth and referrals being one of the most effective.
But wait, you may be thinking, even saying. If cold calling
isn't the most effective approach why do so many successful
companies use cold calling?
Two words: numbers and perception
Cold calling is a numbers game. If enough people make enough
phone calls to enough people, the laws of probability say a
certain percent of those called will buy something. Now, smart
sales organizations do all sorts of things to make the odds as
favorable as possible: pre-screening, purchasing leads,
developing call scripts, and so on but the success of the method
still depends on the brute force of making lots of calls.
Seeing lots of people on the phone working their list also gives
the perception of productive activity. People are working hard to
get business. And you have the number of calls, number of
appointments made, number of contracts signed, etc to prove that
productivity.
Cold calling may not be the most productive approach to getting
business but it sure does look like it is.
BOTTOM LINE
The point here is that marketing is not an exact science. There
is no one sure fire-way that will have customers pounding down
your doors to buy from you. That's why I find thinking of
marketing as cultivating relationships such a useful definition.
Successful marketing is about successful business relationships
and successful business relationships require time, familiarity,
and trust.
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Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost,
effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals,
guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances.
To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt?
Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers
Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com
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