Ten
Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make
How do you judge the effectiveness of your
small business marketing efforts? Easy...does it produce results? Great
looking ads, fancy logos and flashy web sites are worthless if they don't
bring business to your door. This list of 10 common marketing mistakes can
help you produce better results.
1. Not Having a Clearly Defined USP.
Do you want to fit in or stand out? In order to thrive in today's
cluttered marketplace, every business owner must be able to clearly
articulate an answer to the question, "Why should someone do business with
you rather than your competitor?" "What makes you unique? Your answer to
these questions constitutes your Unique Selling Proposition. Do you offer
24-hour, 7 day a week service? Do you offer the lowest price? Do you offer
a no risk guarantee? A strong USP helps you to stand out in a crowded
field.
2. Selling Features Rather than Benefits.
Someone once said, "No one ever bought a drill bit. Millions of people
have bought a hole" People don't buy features, they buy benefits. They are
tuned into Radio Station W.I.I.F.M. (What's in it for me?) Tell them
clearly how the features of your product/service will help them, make
their life easier, etc.
3. Not using headlines in print
advertisements.
You have at most a couple of seconds to grab someone's attention when they
read a newspaper, magazine etc. Using an attention-grabbing headline
ensures that the reader will continue to read the rest of the
advertisement. The headline is an ad for the ad. Take a look at some
newspaper ads. Which ones attract your attention? You will probably find
they have utilized an effective headline.
4. Not testing headlines, price points,
packages, pitches, everything.
How do you know what ad, what price, what offer most appeals to customers?
By putting them to a vote. Test everything. Rather than running one
newspaper ad for three weeks, why not run three different ads for three
weeks and measure which draws better? Rather than putting all your
advertising into newspaper, why not split between newspaper and direct
mail and measure the results? Why not price your products/services at
different points and see which sells more? Is cheaper always better? Not
necessarily. Each situation is unique. One price may outperform another
for a myriad of reasons. Your job is not to know why, but to find what
works. Test, test, test.
5. Making it difficult to do business
with you.
Are your sales staff knowledgeable about your products? Does someone
answer your phone promptly and in a friendly manner? Can people find your
phone number, location? Can customers find things easily in your store?
Put yourselves in your customer's shoes. Don't make them work-they won't.
I've seen a web site that undoubtedly cost the company thousands of
dollars and NOWHERE could I find a phone number or email address. Your
customer has better things to do than struggle to do business with you.
6. Not finding out what your customer's
needs are.
What is the first step in filling your customer's needs? Discovering what
they are. What's most important to them? Don't even try to guess. You may
think price is most important when what they really want is fast service.
You may believe fast service is what they want when what they desperately
want is a friendly, personal touch. How do you find out? People won't tell
you unless you ask. So ask.
7. Not maintaining an up to date customer
database.
Your customer list is pure gold. Rather than always working to bring new
customers in the door, why not take advantage of the good will you have
already built with your existing clientele? Experiment with extending
special offers to your customer base. Ask for
referrals. Send them a card on their birthday. Call and ask what they most
enjoyed about doing business with you (or what they disliked doing
business with you). You worked hard to develop these relationships.
Recognize their value and work hard to "re-delight" them.
8. Not eliminating the risk.
What stops a customer from buying from you? Are they unsure that your
offer is worth their hard-earned money? Make it easy to decide to buy from
you. How can you reduce their risk? If you are in a service business, let
them try your service at no cost. If you are a lawyer or consultant offer
them a free consultation. Offer them a money back, no questions asked
guarantee on any product they buy. Why not? Are you afraid people will
take advantage of you? Give it a try for a month. You may be very
pleasantly surprised. Not confident in your product or service? Then go to
work on improving your service.
9. Not educating your customers
Don't just claim that your service is better. Explain why. Are your staff
better trained? Do you utilize a technology that increases service
turnaround or quality? Don't expect people to just take your word for
things. Quality, Service and Value mean nothing. Everyone claims to offer
these. Make these claims real for the customer by offering credible
explanations why they should do business with you.
10. Not knowing what works, and sticking
with it.
Do you know which ads are effective? What media pulls best? What offer
gets the best reaction? By testing (see above) you will. When you find
something that works, don't change it until you find something that works
better. Just because you're sick of an ad/offer isn't a good enough reason
to change it. You can supplement with other ads and offers. If it works,
keep it.
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