Avoid the Two Most Common Marketing Mistakes
The two most frequent marketing mistakes to avoid are: 1) you fail to measure what you are doing and 2) stop saying the wrong things to the right people and stop saying the right things to the wrong people.
If you're not measuring stuff, and you're not tweaking your messaging, you're basically throwing spaghetti against the wall hoping some of it will stick.
1) If you market to everybody, you are marketing to nobody.
You have to know your target market. I know this is basic, but here's how you have to think about it; if you market to everybody, you are marketing to nobody.
What is special about your company, what do you do differently, what do you do better than everybody else, and who benefits the most from what you do well? That is the starting point for identifying your target market.
2) How do you know what to say, if you don't know who you are saying it to?
Once you have your target market, do you know what your target market's hot buttons are? Do you know what they value and what they don't value? What is important to them and what is not important to them? What are there demographics (e.g. male or female, old or young)? You half to personify your target market. Otherwise, you're sending messages to them that are going in one ear and out the other.
Business Owner Bill is one of the personas we (WebStrategies, Inc) target. This persona is typically male, straightforward, not pretentious, Has an open mind and generally seeks direction. This persona can also be skeptical, focused on ROI, may have price objections, is a Type-A, quantitative and results oriented, and more strategic than tactical. This persona has been burned before, so he is a little skeptical. He is also tech impaired.
Why is it important that we know all of this about Business Owner Bill? This is important because every piece of content we were right and push up there, every message in a sales meeting, and every message on our website needs to address those persona elements. If they do, then that connection is made, and that customer says, "These people speak my language."
3) Why should someone buy from you vs. your competition?
If you do not have a competitive advantage, then get the hell out. Why should somebody buy from you versus the competition? If you cannot articulate that, you are in deep trouble.
Ask yourself the following questions. Do you have a unique process that brings better value? Do you have certain expertise that brings better value? Do you have a unique product or service that solves a unique problem?
Dig deep, and find the answers to these questions. The answers to these questions become the reason you're competing.
4) Understand your target customer's path to purchase.
You are in the B2B space and it is tricky. The questions you have to ask yourself are as follows. Can I be found easily in all the right places? If I am found, how compelling is my information? After being found D I give the buyer an opportunity to react to me (as a means to generate a lead for myself)?
5) Are you investing in the best marketing channels?
You are in the B2B space so you should be investing in both inbound and outbound marketing.
Conclusion
If you are smart, experienced, and have the time you can do a lot of this yourself. However, most business owner bobs are so hung up in their business that they don't have time to do this for themselves, that they hire companies like WebStrategies, Inc. to do this for them.
If you would like to schedule a speaking event with one of our Sales and Marketing experts, contact WebStrategies, Inc. today.
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