| |
| |
|
Marketing Resource Center |
|
|
|
Are You Sabotaging Your Marketing Success?
What?!? Sabotage your own success? Who would do that? Well, you'd be surprised how many small business owners think they are effectively marketing their business, when in fact they are cutting their own throat. Yes, they may be running ads that are pulling in leads or customers. And yes, they may be writing a regular column for their local newspaper so they are perceived as the expert in their industry. And yes, they may even be doing a pretty good job of marketing on a regular basis to their prospect list. So if they are doing all of these things "right," how are they sabotaging their success? Well there are lots of ways. Following are just a few of the ways small business owners unknowingly sabotage their own success. (1) They have not taken the time to develop a marketing plan. A plan focuses your efforts and allows you to make the most of your marketing budget. Unfortunately, you can market without a plan. Yes, you read that right. You can do it, and people do market without marketing plans everyday. But that does not mean you should. To make the most of your marketing efforts and budget, make sure you take the time each year to create a plan. (2) They don't have written goals. Smart business owners have written goals and objectives for what they want to achieve with their business and for each of their marketing activities. I know this sounds b-o-r-i-n-g, but it's a fact. There is proof that people who put their goals into writing have a higher success rate than those who do not. Plus, how can you develop a plan if you don't have concrete objectives? You need a clear vision and target to aim for. You can't possibly determine what marketing or how much marketing you need if you don't know what you are aiming for. (3) They have a short-term attitude. They are reactive in nature, and while on the surface it appears they are doing a lot of marketing, they are not doing anything consistently or long enough to make an impact. Running an ad or sending out your newsletter a few times and giving up when you don't get immediate results is worse than doing nothing at all. How so? Because at least when you do nothing it doesn't cost you any money. Pulling the plug too soon costs you money. And statistics show it takes somewhere between three and 10 exposures to a message for the average consumer to notice it and take action. So it is quite possible your audience was just beginning to take notice right about the time you threw in the towel! (4) They don't know their USP. Probably the worst way business owners sabotage their marketing efforts without even realizing it, is to NOT have a clear Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The greatest marketing plan in the world will not be effective if you have not clearly defined why someone should buy your product or service instead of all the other products or services available to them. If you have not figured out what is unique and better about your product or service, and found a compelling way to communicate this in everything you do, you can market 'til the cows come home and you will be wasting your time and your money 10 Tips to Banish Marketing Sabotage. (1) Develop a marketing plan. Make sure you make it your number one priority to develop a marketing plan every year. (2) Write objectives. Write at least one objective that states what results you would like to achieve with your business over the next year. And, write at least one objective for every marketing activity you undertake, that states what results you would like to achieve from that activity over the next year. (3) Stay the course. Check in on your progress toward your objectives every three to six months, but give your plan a good nine to 12 months to work. (4) Determine your unique selling proposition. And make sure it is represented clearly and in a compelling way in everything you do. (5) Don't try to be "everything to everyone." Focus on a few specific benefits and a specific audience. (6) Track all of your marketing activities. It's the only way you'll know exactly what is working and what is not working. Use this knowledge to make smart marketing decisions. (7) Don't rely on one marketing activity. Employ a mix of several marketing activities to reach more people more times. (8) Create a system to help you stay on track. Your marketing plan will do you no good if it's filed away in a folder. Make sure you have a system to stay on track with your marketing activities every month and to help you plan ahead for future activities. (9) Create a realistic budget. Your budget should be based on a percentage of your projected revenue or the dollars you have available for marketing. Whatever budget you decide to allocate to marketing, stick to it. Marketing is an investment in your business. You have to spend enough to make progress but not more than your business can financially support. (10) Understand your environment. The economy, competition, the strength of your particular industry, your prospects' situation. You have to understand them all so you can create an effective plan to either overcome obstacles or take advantage of opportunities. Follow these guidelines and your business stands a much greater chance of succeeding. All of these activities are part of a good marketing plan. And no business that wants to succeed should be without one. © Copyright 2005 Debbie LaChusa 20-year marketing veteran, consultant, author, teacher and coach Debbie LaChusa has developed The 10stepmarketing System to help small business owners successfully market their business, themselves. To learn more about this simple, step-by-step program and to sign up for her FREE audio class and FREE weekly ezine featuring how-to articles, tips and advice, visit http://www.10stepmarketing.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Advertising Your Private Practice: 6 Tips for Maximizing Your Results-Part 2 As discussed in part 1 of this article, "Your Private Practice: Beware of the Problems," I usually don't recommend advertising as a main method of marketing a practice for new coaches, counselors and healing professionals. There are often more cost-effective ways to get the word out and attract clients. Notable News - Its Not About You! You enjoy what you do. In fact, you love your product and want to tell everyone about it. The Biggest Problem With Your Marketing Is...? What is the biggest problem most marketers have? Who knows. We don't, and they certainly don't either. So You Want To Cut The Crap And Get Into The Money? So, you´ve been around for a while, and maybe even made a few bucks, but you still need something.. Direct Mail Postcard Rules It's a fact that your customers are your best leads. This means that the most likely people to purchase your products and/or services are the ones who have paid for them before. CD ROM Business Cards - Offline Marketing For Online Promotion It's a great concept, - and it has a 'cool factor' of 300%!Many people will pop these into their drive just because of image appeal alone. What's really neat is when one isso well done, so informative, so interactive, that everybodywants one. Marketing Planning - Preparation and Accountability We all know the saying, "Failing to plan (prepare) is planning (preparing) to fail." I truly believe in this statement and I hope you do as well. Private Practice Marketing: 3 Secrets I Wish I Knew When I First Started Out I don't know about you, but I am still waiting for my first class in graduate school about how to develop, market, and run a private practice.I'm also still waiting for my father to have a discussion with me about the facts of life. How to Market and Protect Your New Ideas The intellectual property transfer market is now estimated to be worth over $100 billion. If you have a new idea, a patent or an invention, you may be able to license it or sell it for millions of dollars. Want to Increase Your Business? First You Need to Understand where You are at! Are you having trouble understanding basic situational marekting concepts? Then this article is for you.Alex Margarit shows you a simple step by step way on how to put together a basic situational analysis. 12 Lessons I Picked Up from Attending Seminars So you just dropped a tidy sum to attend a seminar or some other three-day event. Now it's over and you're exhausted. Marketing Strategies to Put Yourself Out of Business Want to learn how to lose a billion dollars?Just follow the marketing strategies used by GM, Ford and Daimler Chrysler. Yes, some of the largest corporations in the world are missing some basic tenants of marketing and it's worth taking a look at what they're doing wrong so you don't make the same mistakes. Consistent Marketing Provides Big Rewards Being inconsistent when it comes to marketing your business can be a recipe for disaster. Nothing is more irritating to a potential customer than inconsistency. How to Win a Price War Any economics student can tell you that price is a matter of supply and demand. The market will bear a certain price point and settle into equilibrium. Marketing Strategy - Getting the Marketing Groove Wouldn't it be great to have a year where your marketing efforts were streamlined and got the results you were after? None of us want to struggle with marketing, and yet this is the one topic that continues to be highest in the minds of small business professionals.Let's really consider some of the reasons that can sabotage our marketing efforts, and how we can turn that around. More Scams! Do you Really Believe It? Quit spreading those chain letters, nothing is going to happen to you if you don't mail it to the next person. However, there is a better chance that if you continue mailing, you may have the FTC on you. Produce More Sales from your Email Promotions Five Ways - Part 1 Do sales come from your ezine regularly? How many well-written articles do you submit per week to opt-in online ezines? How often do you send thank you's and follow up messages to your different email groups? If you answered not many, then you need to re-evaluate. The answer to online success is the same as traditional success--promotion, promotion, promotion. Business Postcard Marketing: 35 Ways to Use It Postcards are an effective way for many business owners and marketing managers to attract new customers and increase sales from existing ones. Postcards are inexpensive to produce and mail. Target Market - 3 Big Reasons You Need To Know Yours Rule Number One when writing marketing materials is "Know Your Target Market." There's a lot of foundational work to do before you ever put a word on paper but this is the place to start. Read Your Markets Mind - 3 Great Market Research Resources Starting a new online business, developing a new product,launching a new marketing campaign, buying advertisingcan all depend on how well you are able to research yourmarket.All business is based on demand.
|
| home | site map | Advertising Articles |
| © 2006 |
