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5 Marketing Don’ts to Grow Your Business

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It’s important for every business owner to have an idea on how best to market their business in order to maximise every chance of winning those all important new customers and grow their businesses.

Last post we wrote about the 5 marketing do’s:

1. Define your ideal customer

2. Make your customer number one

3. Use emotion

4. Prove yourself

5. Develop a strong call to action
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to get a good return on your marketing investment, but you do need to know what works best and what doesn’t – so you’ll know what you’re benefitting from and what needs to change.

So this week, I thought we’d look at what NOT to do when marketing your business. Now some of these might seem rather obvious, but according to a marketing strategist I was talking to during the week, more people than not make a least a couple of these fundamental mistakes.

 

5 Marketing Don’ts;

 

1. Market to the wrong audience:

This is the biggest mistake one can make when it comes to marketing. Some people might think that they have a better chance of gaining new business if they market to everyone – but it very rarely, if ever, works. Even big brands that seemingly market to everyone have an ‘ideal’ customer. Make sure you define yours and make them your number one priority.

 

2. Put all your marketing eggs in one basket:

Today’s technology allows you so many ways to grow your business. From print ads, newsletters, and networking to social media, cold calling (yes it still works) and events/expos, it’s important to explore each area to find which works best. We’ve seen social media boom in the past few years and some might consider it to be the most effective option – but it’s vital to not put all of your marketing eggs in one basket, explore the rest too!

 

3. Forget to put together a plan:

Very rarely can you take someone from not having heard of you or your products/services to desperately wanting to buy it in one hit. That’s why great marketers have a multi-touchpoint plan to ensure they’re drip-feeding their ideal customers information in small bite size chunks often enough to stay on their radar – so that when they’re ready to buy, they know who to buy from. Your plan doesn’t need to be so long that it lives in a drawer never exposed to daylight. Ten or so dot points on a single page will do nicely.

 

4. Make it complicated:

Many business owners get so wrapped up in the excitement of marketing that they try to fit too much into one marketing piece. The trick to successful marketing messages is to make them clear, simple and well defined. It’s like observing a piece of art, if there’s too much going on it will be hard to see what the artist intended for you to see. The same rules apply for marketing. Make your pieces simple, relevant and most importantly, make them all about your customer.

 

5. Send out more marketing materials that you can legitimately follow up:

If you’re trying to really connect with potential customers – especially if you’re in a service business there’s no point in sending out thousands of brochures, flyers, connection requests, etc – ie: more than you can ever follow up on. That’s just expensive and wastes your time. Instead send out a small number of great quality materials that will capture your ideal customer’s attention in your first few tries. This will also benefit you, as you’ll be able to closely track and follow up on previous send-outs.

 

6. Sit back and wait for the phone to ring:

It probably won’t. You have to go hunting for new business.

We all know how hard it can be ‘cold-calling’, but the benefits can truly pay off. But if that’s too scary – try ‘warm’ calling. Follow up with old customers or old prospects that you went a couple of rounds of talks with, LinkedIn contacts, ask existing customers for referrals, etc. That way, it’s not quite as scary.

You could even try going to some events/expos and meeting people – don’t try to sell them on the day, rather contact them afterwards and ask to catch up for a coffee (don’t try to sell to them then either). Then once you’ve gotten to know them you might ask how you could possibly best work together – or if they know someone who might need your services/products.

With the correct marketing strategies in place, your business is bound to grow. Of course if we can help you put some strategies in place for you to grow your business by taking care of your admin or phone calls, we’d be delighted to help. You can contact us on 9994 8000 or drop us a note.

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Article by Michelle

August 15, 2013