5
Most Common Marketing Mistakes
Small Business Owners Make By Sian Yewdall
MARKETING. MARKETING. MARKETING… ALL WE HEAR ABOUT THESE DAYS AS AN ENTREPRENEUR IS MARKETING!
Y
es, of course you understand the importance of marketing your business to make money, but when you sit down to write a powerful social media post, all you hear is the sound of the TV in the next room or see the laundry that needs folding. In other words, you avoid marketing like the plague. Blame being too tired. Too busy or more honestly, ‘I don’t know how’ so you give up and figure you’ll try again another day when you have more brain space. Should it really be that hard?! If you’re ready to declare, enough is enough, and tackle your marketing once and for all, here are the 5 most common marketing mistakes small business owners make at some stage (yes, I’m guilty of them too!)
MISTAKE 1: YOU WANT TO HELP ‘EVERYONE’ If you’re business is aimed at ‘helping everyone’ then I’m here to tell you, it will help no-one. #sorrynotsorry Does Apple sell to everyone? Does MacDonalds sell to everyone? No! While they are two powerful and well-known brands, they DO NOT appeal to everyone. They have a clearly defined target market and 18
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they know their customer brand parameters so intimately that they talk directly to them. In other words, not everyone is the same. We don’t all like the same things, value the same things or even want the same things. The most effective marketing occurs when it creates CONNECTION with the right audience. Have you ever heard someone say, “Even if I only make a difference to one person’s life, that’s all that matters.” You shouldbe thinking the same way about yourmarketing. Talk, write, blog and communicate as if you’re talking to one woman, man, child or dog and that person NEEDS your service because they believe in you and resonate with your message. If you focus on helping everyone, then your words lose power, your marketing because erratic and your message is too vague and wishy washy because you’re trying to please everyone. That my friends a recipe for disaster!
MISTAKE 2: YOU AVOID TAKING REAL ACTION Do any of these sound familiar? • You change your Facebook cover image three times with
different colours, fonts or links to your website to try and attract more people to click through to youroffer. • You re-write your website’s About Page every week trying tofigure out the best way to describe what it is you really do but never feel like what you write is goodenough. • You create a new offer but don’t promote it and only share it once on Facebook and wonder why noone signed-up forit. • You post pictures of you and your family on social media, talk about your products and how hard you worked on it, but no-one likes, comments or buys fromyou! Here’s the thing about marketing, it’s so easy to hide behind it and say ‘I’m doing everything I can’ but when you take a deeper look at how you’re spending your time, these minor tasks are actually meaningless to everyone BUT you. Taking real action is focusing on revenue generating activities that will sell your services, grow your audience and make the impact you dream of!
MISTAKE 3: YOU DON’T ASK FOR THE SALE Women (generally speaking of course) love avoiding anything to do with money. It’s common that
