News
 13
Costly Marketing Mistakes
By Joe Gracia
I call them The 13 Costly Marketing Mistakes. While
this list doesn't cover 'all' of the possible
marketing mistakes, it does describe some of the
most expensive, destructive and most 'common' made
by many owners of traditional and home based
businesses. Here are the first four.
1. ONE-STEP MARKETING
The 'One-Step' marketing strategy is the most common
marketing strategy used by most small business
owners today. It's everywhere -- and it's a big
money waster. It consists of an ad, flyer or other
marketing vehicle that simply 'announces' the
business name, possibly lists a few basic features
of the product or service and ends with an address
and phone number.
The prospect is now expected to respond to this type
of marketing piece by immediately purchasing the
product or service.
Unless you are offering an extremely 'high-demand,'
'hard-to-get' product/service (an original Van Gogh
painting for $100, Super Bowl tickets, etc.) this
marketing strategy 'almost always' results in little
or no response. This strategy totally disregards the
'psychological buying sequence' of consumers. It's
very much like walking up to a stranger at a party
and asking 'Would you marry me?' What do you think
the response would be?
2. NOT KNOWING WHICH EFFORTS ARE WINNERS OR LOSERS
Not knowing for sure which of your marketing efforts
are producing results and which are big
'money-wasters' is a guaranteed way to minimize your
results. Even new businesses are investing in up to
a 'dozen' marketing devices at any given time. Not
only are we talking about traditional media, like
newspaper or Yellow Page ads but 'many' others that
may not be as obvious.
These marketing devices are either contributing to
your business profit or destroying it. Most business
owners don't have a clue as to which is which. If
they did, they could easily guarantee increasing
their profitable results by investing more in the
winning devices and eliminating the money-wasting,
losing devices.
3. NOT TELLING YOUR PROSPECTS WHAT TO DO
Expecting your prospects to 'know' exactly what you
want them to do guarantees low results. Never,
never, never assume. Take a look at most small
business ads and you'll see that the business owners
are almost always 'assuming' that the prospect will
know exactly what they want them to do . . . without
telling them.
At the bottom of the ad there will be a phone number
and an address. Usually nothing more. Ask one of
these business owners what they 'wanted' the
prospect to do after reading their ad and they will
most likely reply, 'Buy my product! Isn't it
obvious??' The answer is a resounding 'No!'
For one, there is rarely enough information in the
typical marketing piece for a consumer to make an
'immediate' buying decision. Therefore, that can't
be the action expected from the consumer.
Second, the marketing competition for the prospect's
consumer dollars is fierce. The prospect is usually
exposed to dozens of ads for basically the same
product/service. Obviously, he or she is not going
to take 'action' on every single ad.
How do 'you' insure that they will respond to 'your'
marketing piece and take the specific action you
intended? Certainly, not by 'assuming' that they
will 'know' or 'figure out' what you want them to
do.
In order for a business owner to tell prospects
exactly what action to take next, the business owner
must know what that action should be. Once you know
the 'psychological buying sequence' the next
expected action becomes obvious.
4. CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION
Closely related to mistake number 3, is the
marketing piece that again simply 'announces' the
business name, lists a few basic features of the
product or service, ends with an address and phone
number . . . and then asks the prospect to 'Call for
More Information.'
One of the last things a prospect wants, is to feel
dumb. What information should they ask for? Does
this mean that the business doesn't have a brochure
or any other literature? Are they going to have to
take notes?? Will there be a test?
The other thing 'no prospect' wants is to feel
pressured. Whether it's true or not, the average
prospect 'assumes' that they'll get a
'high-pressured' sales pitch if they call. Most do
not want to risk this pain.
Therefore, the 'Call for More Information' tag is
almost always ignored.
While 'some' prospects may not have a problem
responding to this 'vague' directive, the majority
do. If you doubt this . . . try putting it at the
bottom of your marketing pieces. You'll soon be
convinced that few prospects, if any, respond to the
'Call for More Information' marketing mistake.
Watch for the next four Marketing Mistakes in the
next issue of the Marketing Advisor.
- By Joe Gracia
(c) Copyright 2000 - Give to Get Marketing
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