5 Common Marketing Mistakes (number 3 is a classic newbie blunder) and How to Fix Them

I don’t know how many times I’ve seen forum comments, and comments from my students, that a particular marketing technique (or strategy) doesn’t work. There are too many reasons to list as to why it did not work, for them. But I’ll tell you this…

I believe the majority of situations is the marketing tactic was not to blame, but rather it was how it was executed. And here’s something else, you don’t know that you don’t know (something). Meaning, there were, and often continue to be, knowledge gaps. Marketing knowledge and also how to effectively implement it.

Here are 5 common marketing mistakes to remember and avoid. You’ll save your self a whole lot of time, frustration and money by learning from the mistakes of others.

1. Mistake: All the world’s your stage. Everyone’s a potential customer. No, they’re all not, not ever.

Fix: Narrow your focus to only include your ideal customer, and then filter out all the rest. Here’s a good parallel that maybe you’ve heard before. It’s about list building and email marketing.

Experienced email marketers know, and usually from hard experience, that they’d rather have 1000 subscribers who are targeted, their ideal customer (profile), and who are responsive than 5000 or maybe even 10,000 subscribers who are not targeted and not responsive. You’ll make more money from the first group of subscribers.

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2. Mistake: Getting side-tracked and lured by new things in marketing, SEO, etc. We all know that new things are constantly appearing whether in technology, marketing or whatever. Indeed, companies can be fanatical about being first with something new. But for a marketer, you’ll very easily lose focus and possible abandon what you’re currently doing to pursue the new marketing thing. It can and often seriously harms your efforts.

Fix: There’s nothing wrong with staying current with marketing or technology trends. In fact, it’s a good idea to stay abreast of things. But you must keep your focus and that means working your plan. If it’s working, even just a little bit, then stay with it and scale-up, etc. Evaluate any possibly new approaches you can use, or want to test, later on. Keep your head and avoid getting caught-up with the marketing.

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3. Mistake: Expecting instant results after implementing your marketing. Or, in the same vein, expecting your audience (customers) to respond very fast to your marketing. This mental error will often make you impatient and possibly frustrated which leads to more mental mistakes and ill-conceived decisions. Things can quickly snowball and spiral downward rather than moving forward on solid footing.

Fix: Marketing is a process that mostly moves slower than we all would prefer. Yes, it depends on what you’re doing. A PPC campaign moves faster, but you may not be doing that. Realize and accept that it takes time to create and build important things such as branding, credibility and trust.

Then there’s getting your marketing messages out, in whatever fashion, and you have to be patient. Keep your focus and be patient until you start getting feedback from your marketing. Then you can evaluate it and proceed accordingly.

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4. Mistake: Applying logic to your marketing 100 percent of the time. That statement may make your brow wrinkle because it seems illogical to think it’s a mistake. True enough, marketing and advertising planning is a logical exercise because they include data, research, demographics, etc. You must step in the shoes of your audience.

Buying decisions include doing what is logical such as research to make comparisons for price and features, for instance. However, much research consistently shows that buying decisions are are based on emotions, primarily, and then justified using logic.

Fix: Use your accumulated data (logic-related information) properly. You must appeal to the emotions of your potential customers. This is achieved by knowing what’s most important to your potential buyers. And then you tell them in terms of benefits and what your product or service will do for them.

Of course you’ll use data, expressed in features, etc, throughout your marketing and advertising material to support your emotion-related components in your marketing.

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5. Mistake: Worshipping market research; or, viewing market research information as universal truths about your market audience. People are not always rational creatures. They do things, say things and think things for reasons that they often do not fully understand. And, they are not always truthful.

This is all as it relates to what is reflected in market research. The result is misleading and inaccurate information presented to businesses. You, and your business and marketing, then operate on misleading and inaccurate information. And when things don’t quite work-out as expected, you’re left scratching your head, wondering why and not a happy camper.

Fix: Be aware of the limitations inherent in market research information. Some of the data will be valuable, and you’ll be tasked with deciding what data can be trusted and what may be a curve ball. You may have to extrapolate the best you can and design your marketing accordingly.

And always remember to test small, use your analytics, analyze the results and then make a decision as to the best way to proceed.

One of the best ways to save massive amounts of time and money is to leverage the knowledge of successful people. In this case, I’m talking about taking advantage of a coach or mentor. Such a person can help you avoid many more mistakes some of which are far more serious in consequence than what you’ve read in this article. Read more about my internet marketing coaching program, and don’t forget to shoot me an email with any questions.