The Most Common Marketing Mistakes Companies Make

Marketing is an important aspect for businesses. It’s essential for generating customers and sales. There are so many parts to it, though, that it can be tricky to pull off effectively. Companies can take part in various marketing ventures – send out direct mail, use online ads tools like , keep their website fresh, etc. – but still not see any results. Why? The most likely fell into the trap of making one or more common marketing mistakes, as many other companies have. So what are some of these common mistakes, and can they recover?

1. No marketing strategy

Every business, whether big or small, needs to have a marketing strategy. Thinking that the product does everything and will sell itself won’t get you anywhere, nor will thinking your target market is anyone with money to spend and thinking that you don’t have any competition. These ideas will set you back. To recover, you need to adjust your thinking and make a marketing plan! If you don’t have one, make one. If you are already using some sort of plan and it’s not working, scrap it and make a totally new one with new and better strategies. And don’t target everyone; narrow your target market to those people who will find your product relevant and where you will have a competitive advantage.

2. Inconsistency

Don’t change your brand’s positioning based on your audience, marketing vehicle, or person delivering your company’s message/position! All this does is confuse your audience as to who you are and what your company does. Keep your message constant and consistent to build brand awareness.  Your position should be clearly defined as to who you are, what you, how you differ from your competition, and can be clearly and consistently delivered by every employee.

3. Marketing what you can’t deliver

If you don’t offer something that is available yet or has not be tested or validated, don’t market it! This “we could offer it” syndrome, the “fake it tell we make it” mantra, does not work. Don’t run a successful campaign for something that your production operations can’t handle the demand for – either being understaffed or just not having the skills and abilities to make the product. Or maybe the product isn’t available on time. Your customers will be upset and your sales & marketing team will be demoralised. If you really want to get this product out, realign your production and marketing efforts.

4. Only one marketing vehicle

Don’t fixate on using only one marketing vehicle. “Putting all your eggs in one basket” limits your reach. Sure, you might get some good leads with the one technique, but there are so many different ways to market your company and product and expand your reach. Choose a marketing mix that will let you reach your customers in different areas and grow your leads exponentially more than the one vehicle alone could do.

5. Not tracking

Don’t forget to track the results off all your marketing efforts! If you don’t, how will you know which of your marketing efforts and campaigns are working and which aren’t? You can’t learn from your mistakes if you don’t know you made any, right? And if you don’t track, you can’t improve what’s not working or tweak what is so that it does better. And don’t forget to track your competition, too, to see what they are doing in their marketing efforts. You need to know what they’re doing so you can know what you need to do to compete (and maybe even borrow a few of their tricks). You can also see what they do that doesn’t work, and you can possibly avoid doing the same.