The next few blogs will be dedicated to the mind-set marketing mistakes that are often made by business owners. Each mistake will also include a recommended fix that will help you attract more business and get better results from your marketing, regardless of how big or small your marketing budget is.
Mistake - You think marketing is a task you ‘do’.
“I need to do more marketing.” It is the first thought that springs to mind when you need to boost business. The problem is, when you think of marketing as a task you ‘do’, you are usually thinking about publicity, direct mail, flyers, email, ads and promotion. Marketing is much more than merely promotion, and it is rarely a quick fix.
The real fix is to expand your definition of marketing. Instead of thinking of it as a task you ‘do’, think of marketing as an extension of your branding. Marketing is any variable that helps or hinders the sale or use of your product or service. This includes: your location, the attitudes of the person who answers the phone, your company name, pricing, policies, proposals, personality and more.
Before you write a promotional word, do a ‘help or hinder’ once-over. Make a list of what is helping you attract business and what is getting in the way. Figure out what obstacles you can quickly fix or remove. Obviously moving a physical store into a more desirable location is a long-term project, however bring in a customer service strategist to train your staff or restructuring your pricing can be done on fairly short notice.
What ‘helps’ can you enhance or spotlight? Until the help-or-hinder homework is done, working on promotion is premature.
Next time we will troubleshoot another common marketing mistake.
Until next time...
Have a great day,
Susanne
If you feel you are spinning your marketing wheels, join me for a Marketing strategy session.