10 Marketing Mistakes to Easily Avoid

10 Marketing Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

When marketing is not your core business it's easy to make simple mistakes. But all it takes is a marketing professional to provide some friendly direction. The following 10 Marketing Mistakes can be easily avoided by recognising them and then having a plan of action that doesn’t repeat them. Some of them may require that you get out of your comfort zone, and that can be challenging. But perseverance will provide you with great outcomes – and surprisingly cost-effective marketing.

Mistake #1 Undervaluing Yourself

People buy you at the price you put on yourself. You have skills that are required by a sector of the marketplace. Marketing is, basically, about getting out there and providing your customers with what they want better than your competitors do. Don't make it even harder on yourself by undervaluing your products or services.

Mistake #2 Not Investing

Whilst you have invested money and time to GAIN the skills you have, you must also invest time, money and energy in learning to market yourself and your business. Commit now to learning better marketing skills (so enquire now about Insanely Clever Marketing seminars and on-line learning).

Mistake #3 Being Unprepared

Ensure you think about preparing your marketing in the same way you prepare the other aspects of your business. You have a stake in the outcome of your business so take a more hands-on and prepared approach to marketing, because you have a stake in the outcome that may be the difference between being IN business and being OUT of it.

Mistake #4 Not Writing

No-one expects you to be a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, but you should be able to clearly and persuasively put your ideas on paper. If you can't organise and express yourself how can you expect customers to understand your marketing messages?

Mistake #5 Not Leveraging the Internet

Effectively using and leveraging the power of the internet is not about having an on-line business. There are numerous internet marketing options such as a well-constructed website, quality e-newsletter, writing articles for on-line magazines & directories, and writing an interesting blog (enquire now about the Insanely Clever Marketing on-line Internet Marketing course).


Mistake # 6 Not Mastering Networking

Businesses are run by people, and people do business with other people. Networking is one of the most powerful, and cost-effective, marketing tactics you can employ. If you are not confident about how to behave and what to say at networking events, then seek the help of someone who can teach you simple networking skills.

Mistake # 7 Avoiding Public Speaking

It's not for everyone, in fact most people hare speaking in public. But it is a skill worth developing. Not only will you gain confidence but you can achieve leverage by speaking to many people at one time, not just one person. Your sales / persuasion skills will also improve. Consider joining a professional public speaking club (such as Rostrum or Toastmasters) or offer to speak to small, friendly groups, such as a Rotary Club, to gain some experience. Remember, the audience will be thinking "I'm glad that's not me" not "What an idiot that guy is".

Mistake # 8 Remaining Silent

Ask for what you want. Don't remain silent because you think you may cause offence or lose a sale. Because remaining silent will ensure those things happen. You can confidently ask for what you want in a friendly manner – ask for time, ask for a meeting, ask for information. (If you lack sales confidence, contact Insanely Clever Marketing for information on our non-manipulative sales course)

Mistake # 9 Failing to Implement

If you implement even a fraction of what you know, you could be more successful than you can imagine. You need to create strategies and implement tactics, implement action plans, timelines and systems to measure responses and outcomes. Implement to make things happen!

Mistake # 10 Failing to Take Risks

Seth Godin said it all very well in 'The Purple Cow' – why play it safe? You don’t have to be an irresponsible idiot but you do need to stand out form the crowd. Do something you haven't done before. Get outside your comfort zone. Go on, give it a go? What could you lose? But what could you GAIN? Remember, the sweetest fruit is on the highest branch.

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Beating the Competition

Many marketing books will tell you that an attention grabbing headline is required for advertising copy, print articles and even blogs. However one headline I read recently made me smile; and think. It said -

'Everything You've Ever Learned About Marketing Is WRONG!'

– and then it had a sub-title that amused me. It said –

'Beat Your Competition into A Demoralized Quivering Pulp'

The accompanying picture was of a very angry man wagging his finger contemptuously at the reader. The ad was for a free CD program. It's hard to say what level of response this ad may have attracted but the target audience was clear – angry and fearful people; people who would find this ad appealing because they feel so insecure about themselves.

"CRUSH THE COMPETITION, drive them screaming in to the hills and then I will dominate the world!" (accompanied by an evil laugh and toss of the head). Would this style of ad attract you? And would you like your customers to view you as a competition crusher? Don't you think there is a certain kind of twisted mindset that finds this appealing?

However, on the flip side, there are also people with mindsets that work better, are easier to deal with and leave you feeling fulfilled about your marketing.

If I had a conversation with the man in the ad – let's say his name is Doug – I wonder how he might view ads that DON'T appeal to slicing the competition up in to little bite-size pieces.

"Are you crazy?" Doug might say. "It's dog-eat-dog in the tough, non-compromising, cut-throat world of business. Ads have to slaughter the competition and leave them in a bloodied pulp. That's how victories are won."

Hmmm. Interesting philosophy. "Well, Doug, you might win a few customers in the short term but how many enemies will you create?"

"Oh don't give me that win:win bullshit," rages Doug. "You can't all be winners, it's the last man standing, it's Darwin's theory of evolution and it's only the tough that survive. Don't you watch Survivor?"

Well, I tend to get put off by programs that promote the 'last man standing' mentality because the formula wears a bit thin. Gordon Ramsay has the same old rage. Donald Trump has the same old expression as though he is sucking on lemons. Television shows that pretend to be creating champions but are really pushing a theme of 'win at all costs' are not ones I watch. The mentality is short-sighted, limited and on a single raging track.

Doug is pretty fired up now. "LIMITING!" he spits, "Winning is the ONLY thing that counts. No-one remembers the name of the person who came second at the Olympics! Winning is King, who needs losers? I want to be a winner. I want to be Donald Trump; he's my hero!"

Geez. Doug is pretty fired up about winning. But his winning is really about NOT losing. I am in marketing because I believe that marketing has winning formulas, that winning is actually part of the game. But at ALL costs? Even reputation and customers? That's just BAD business.

Often the biggest competition is ourselves. It's when we don't make the effort; we procrastinate, we allow indifference or resistance to win. Because quite honestly there IS enough business to go around if we can conquer our own self-sabotage.

"Hell, you don't EVER admit your weaknesses," rages Doug on his soapbox. "You'll be gobbled up and spat out by the big guys. You need to always show strength no matter how weak you feel otherwise you'll be LUNCH!"

Maybe Doug needs to think about WHY he thinks this way? What kind of person would be so worried about competition? What kind of person would have to succeed no matter the cost? Would it be the sort of person who is insecure? The sort of person who had something to prove, who lacked confidence and didn't feel that their products or services were of enough value to adequately compete?

The 'Beat Your Competition' mentality is limiting and can be very destructive. Marketing is not about demolishing the competition. Sure, you need to know what your competition is doing; you need to deliver your products and services better than the competition. But you don’t need to come across as Goliath annihilating everything in your path. Attract business with quality, convenience, innovation, an excellent customer experience and authentic credibility.

FREE YOURSELF FROM LIMITING MARKETING BEHAVIOUR!

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