MARKETING – 10 MOST COMMON MISTAKES

Marketing is an essential part of business development, yet it is an area that my clients always want the most help with. So this got me thinking. What are the mistakes (in my opinion) that many people make regarding their marketing?

1. Not realising that marketing is a mixture of ingredients essential for business success. All you need is to pick the ingredients, add your own and create a winning combination:

* Business Cards                       * Marketing Literature                         *Newsletters

* Press Releases                       * Events                                            * Advertising

* Networking                              * Blogging                                          * Public Speaking

* Social Media                           * Articles                                            * Public Relations

* Sales Activity                         * Mailshots                                        * Competitions& Giveaways

2. Not getting on-board with the Social Media revolution! This is a fatal mistake as your competitors large and small will begin to take your market share. That’s if they are not doing so already!
   
3. Not having a responsive website. Since April 21, 2015, Google are use mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal in search results, rewarding websites that are fully optimized for mobile platforms.
   
4. Not knowing how to use Social Media for business growth. Personal use of social media is not the same as business use. Social Media plays a vital role in today’s Marketing Mix. It is much more strategic and content driven especially as Google algorithms now rank new content on websites very highly.
   
5. Not updating your website regularly (every day where possible) with fresh content. Now that Google is ranking fresh content on websites, so highly, it pays to use a content management system such as Scoopit.com
   
6. Avoiding sales activity. This is often justified by reverse prioritisation. By that I mean putting low priority work, you like doing, as high priority in your mind e.g. working on products or services that no customer has asked for but you think they need.
   
7. Not having clear marketing, sales and social media strategies and action plans. Without strategic actions to cover all these areas you will be working harder not smarter and your return on investment and time will be compromised.
   
8. Not including social media and contact details on all social media platforms, marketing literature, including business cards and web presence. Never miss an opportunity to give people all the options of how they can connect with you. With so many channels of communication open to us these days you do not know which ones potential clients use most.
   
9. Not having a consistent brand image across all marketing activity. Instant recognition is what it’s about these days. This is easily done by using your corporate colours and logo across all your marketing materials and social media platforms.
   
10. Not ‘blowing your own trumpet’ across ALL your marketing mediums when you have achieved something worth shouting about. This is such a British trait and one we need to get over! People love to hear good news and it will amaze you just how many of them will contact you to congratulate you. Success breeds success so don’t be shy. Polish up your trumpet and start blowing it! 

If you need any help, especially with your Social Media  then contact us for a FREE consultation. We offer training, mentoring, coaching and public speaking services.

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