Posts Tagged Marketing Mistakes
When tactics drown out strategy
Posted by admin in Slap In the Face!, Wake Up Call!, Web 3.0 on August 7th, 2009
This is a profound Sethism
From the Master, Seth Godin
New media creates a blizzard of tactical opportunities for marketers, and many of them cost nothing but time, which means you don’t need as much approval and support to launch them. As a result, marketers are like kids at Rita’s candy shoppe, gazing at all the pretty opportunities.
Most of us are afraid of strategy, because we don’t feel confident outlining one unless we’re sure it’s going to work. And the ‘work’ part is all tactical, so we focus on that. (Tactics are easy to outline, because we say, "I’m going to post this."
If we post it, we succeed. Strategy is scary to outline, because we describe results, not actions, and that means opportunity for failure.) "Building a permission asset so we can grow our influence with our best customers over time" is a strategy.
Using email, twitter or RSS along with newsletters, contests and a human voice are all tactics.
In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail before they embrace a strategy… and as a result, when a tactic fails, they begin to question the strategy that they never really embraced in the first place.
The next time you find yourself spending 8 hours on tactics and five minutes refining your strategy, you’ll understand what’s going on.
The Law of Big Numbers: Quantity first, then Quality!
Posted by admin in Slap In the Face!, Wake Up Call!, Web 2.0, Web 3.0 on August 3rd, 2009
This is WHY you endeavor to grow your friends/followers/fans on Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, [fill in the blank]. . . .
The Tao of the Little Shovel
Posted by admin in Slap In the Face!, Wake Up Call! on July 18th, 2009
The law of the little shovel
. . .another Sethism! Gawd, I love this man!
If you want to dig a big hole, you need to stay in one place.
If you walk around town with a little shovel, you’ll just end up digging thousands of little holes, not one big one.
Call on one person ten times and you might make the sale. Call on ten people once each and you will likely get ten rejections.
The important thing to remember is that separate events are often separate. If you use the same ineffective approach on one thousand people, it’s not going to start working better just because you use it more often.
Connected events, on the other hand, often benefit from frequency and trust.
Which leads to two viable strategies:
1. If you can stay still, stay still. Earn the trust, earn the sale by repeatedly demonstrating value and authority.
2. If you can’t stay still, get a bigger shovel. Your marketing and your sales pitch has to be so refined and focused that it works the first time, because you don’t get a second time.
Facts Always Win, Right?
Posted by admin in Slap In the Face!, Wake Up Call! on July 14th, 2009
Facts always win, right?
Sage and salient word from Seth Godin. . .
If you’re selling a business to business service and you can prove that it’s better, that it delivers more value, that it’s cheaper or more durable or more efficient, shouldn’t that mean you will close every sale?
Even hard-headed business people end up buying the thing they want, not the thing they necessarily need.
The real danger of relying on facts to make your sale, though, is that when the facts are no longer on your side, you’re toast. The low-cost supplier gets hooked on the easy sales that come from acting like a commodity, and if that changes, you’ve got little room to maneuver.
Great brands and projects are built on real value and a real advantage, but great marketers use this as a supporting column, not the entire foundation. Instead, they build a story on top of their head start. They focus on relationships and worldviews and interactions, and use the boost from their initial head start to build competitive insulation.
Seth Godin’s The Art & Skill of Working for the “Man”
Posted by admin in Slap In the Face!, Wake Up Call! on July 11th, 2009
The art and skill of working with bureaucrats
Have you noticed that most airports feature the same restaurants? It’s not an accident. The people who run these chains have organized themselves to be good at dealing with municipal organizations. Same thing goes for design firms, creative firms, accountants etc. that deal with large corporations.
In my experience, 40% of the fee goes for the work and 60% goes to pay for the do-overs, staffing, project management and hassle that comes from working from big organizations and committees. A lot of small businesses get burned when they charge just the 40% and the client expects that the other 60% comes for free. It doesn’t. If you want to be good at this capability, you can. You can buy it and learn it and then turn around and sell your skill. But it’s unlikely you will randomly back into it.
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Good Freekin’ Boogly Woogly! Let this wash over you, and read it again. . .and again. . .and again!
Raise your hand if you HAVENT gotten burned by a bureaucracy!
This blog is for you. So comment and tell me what you most want to see here. Im listening!
Tevis
What is Web 3.0?
Posted by admin in Wake Up Call!, Web 3.0 on May 3rd, 2009
I dont quite know yet, but I see glimpses of it. It is a medium that you are either a part of it or not. the initiation is participation.
For example, please watch the clip of iJustine. She is a phenom, and doesnt have really any sale-able product except for her persona. I have watched her with interest grow in popularity. While she has yet to monetize her following. . .not unlike Twitter. . .she has massive pull.
Video/UTube/Viddler/Vimeo. . . is something that we all must adopt as a marketing medium to survive and thrive in Web 3.0.
Will you step up and be a part of Web 3.0?
7 Marketing Mistakes To Avoid
Posted by admin in Slap In the Face!, Wake Up Call!, Web 3.0 on April 29th, 2009
by Jessica Swanson
Oftentimes marketers make simple mistakes in their marketing campaigns that cost them both time and money.
Common marketing mistakes can usually be avoided through planning, attention to detail and ongoing tracking and measuring of marketing efforts.
Before you launch your next marketing campaign, whether online or offline, make sure to avoid some of the most common marketing mistakes. 
1. Failure to Write a Powerful Headline. Whether you are writing a newspaper ad, email message or press release, you will need to create a powerful headline. Research suggests that your headline is the most important part of your ad. It is absolutely essential that you draw your prospective customer or client into your ad and keep them interested in what you have to offer. Spend quality time creating your headline and you will notice much better results.
2. Absence Of An Irresistible Offer. In marketing, 40% of the response that you receive from your prospects is directly related to your offer. In today’s competitive marketplace, you need to present your client or customer with an offer that they can’t resist. Offers can range from discounts to "attending a free webinar", but the fact remains that your marketing should always contain some sort of irresistible offer. If you have an irresistible offer, people will respond.
3. A Weak Or Non-Existent Call To Action. Every single time you create an ad, you want to direct your prospective client or customer to take a specific action. This action can be to call a toll-free number, visit a website or place an order. If you fail to tell your prospect exactly what you want them to do, they will not do anything. Take your prospect by the hand and show them what they need to do next in order to move them smoothly through all parts of the sales process.
4. Not Having A Great List. Even if you have the best product since sliced bread, you will need to have a list of highly targeted and responsive prospects. This can be accomplished by building a list. There are dozens of tools that will allow you to build a list quickly and efficiently. You can either rent or purchase a targeted list or build your own by asking prospects to supply you with their name and email. Most marketers agree that growing a list is perhaps one of the most important jobs for any small business.
5. Relying On One Marketing Message. On average, consumers are exposed to over 3,000 marketing messages every day. Recent research suggests that your clients and customers will need to see your marketing message between seven and twelve times before they even take notice! That means you can never rely on sending one message to your prospects; instead, you will need to send repeated messages to them over and over again. Decide how you will deliver your message and then make sure to develop and continue a relationship with your prospect in an ongoing process.
6. Failure To Measure Campaign Effectiveness. There are literally hundreds of ways to market your small business. Over time, you will most likely tap into dozens of these marketing platforms. However, it is absolutely vital that you take time to measure the effectiveness of your various marketing campaigns. This can be done with simple spreadsheets or fancier CRM systems. No matter how you measure your marketing, it is essential that you understand what is working and what is not working so that you can be extremely effective.
7. Not Communicating With Your Current Customers. It is vital to provide ongoing communication with your current customer base. Most likely you have spent time and money acquiring new customers. Moreover, research solidly suggests that about 20% of your current customers will purchase from you again. Make sure that you communicate with your customers on a regular basis, invite their feedback and provide value to them over the long-term. This will help build your business over time.
Whether you are a brand new marketer or established veteran, it is essential to avoid some of these most common marketing mistakes. To be successful over time, you must continually work to improve your marketing effectiveness. If you do, you will soon find your business growing quicker and easier than you ever imagined!
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Jessica Swanson, "The Shoestring Marketer," has helped entrepreneurs, all over the world, explode their businesses using cutting-edge, proven, NO-COST internet marketing strategies. To receive your FREE Marketing Kit, which has helped thousands of entrepreneurs, just like you, learn the exact techniques for marketing their businesses for NO-COST, visit: http://www.ShoestringMarketingKit.com
