To Err Is Dangerous 8 marketing mistakes you can't afford to make
By Gwen Moran Edited by Frances Dodds
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
In virtually every area of business, entrepreneurs find pitfallsalong the way. Marketing is no exception. As the owner of abusiness that helps other businesses market themselves moreeffectively, I have spoken with hundreds of entrepreneurs aboutvarious promotional efforts. Regardless of their industries, timeand again I see owners of companies large and small making the samecostly mistakes. Avoid these mistakes, and you'll save energy,disappointment--and a substantial amount of money:
1. Putting all your eggs in one basket. If yourentire marketing budget is used on just one method of promotingyour business, you won't realize the highest return on yourinvestment. Diversifying your efforts will increase the frequencyand reach of your messages and stretch your marketing dollars.
2. Not measuring results. Measuring the results ofyour marketing efforts allows you to reinvest in vehicles that areworking--and ditch those that aren't. Try tactics like surveys,coded coupons, in-store response cards or focus groups to find outhow well your messages are being received.
3. Firing before you take aim. If you find yourselfthrowing money at every promotional opportunity, take a step backand realize the benefits of planning. Set objectives, define theaudience you wish to reach and set your budget over the next six to12 months. Once you have a plan, you'll realize the value ofmultiple advertising insertions, elimination of vendor rush chargesand prevention of unwise purchasing decisions--like those 15,000imprinted kitchen magnets that seemed like such a good idea at thetime.
4. Eliminating marketing efforts when things gettight. When cash flow slows, advertising, direct mail and otherforms of marketing are the easiest expenses to reduce, right? Butcut these, and you eliminate the very activities that will bring innew customers to turn your business around. Keep your communicationgoing, even when times get tough.
5. Not getting help when you need it. If you findyou're too busy to handle your marketing efforts or that yourmaterials aren't looking as professional as they should,it's time to call in the reinforcements. Hire a full- orpart-time employee, a marketing or public relations agency, or anindependent business consultant, but make sure you're gettingthe message out in a manner that reflects your business.
6. Fixing programs that aren't broken. If youradvertising campaign or direct-mail program is producing results,don't change it just for the sake of changing it. Once you seereturns slow down, look for new approaches, but always test thembefore implementing changes on a full scale.
7. Allowing ego to get in the way of common sense.Ego tempts very bright people to do very dumb things. Yourmarketing decisions should be based on factors that will positivelyimpact some area of your business--usually its bottom line. Hiringan expensive multinational agency for a small account, sacrificingvaluable frequency for full-page advertising and buying blanketmailing lists without matching criteria to your customer profileare all examples of an ego that's sabotaging effectiveness.
8. Relying on hunches. It came to you in the shower:the Big Idea for promoting your business. So you put all yourmarketing dollars into, for instance, painting your delivery truckswith neon colors. Before you blow your money on hunches, however,you need to do your homework. Talk to your customers and others whomay have done something similar. Then test your theory by trying asmall-scale version of the Big Idea. If the initial results arepromising, go full-steam ahead. If not, you've saved yourself abig neon headache.
Gwen Moran is president of Moran Marketing Associates, apublic relations and marketing communications agency in Ocean, NewJersey.
