2009 Planning Guide - My Gift To You!Top 4 Small Business Marketing Blunders
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Marketing is, for many small Internet-based businesses, a necessary evil. Unfortunately, it’s also their life bread. Without effective marketing, your Internet business doesn’t stand a chance against the competition.
Here are four of the worst marketing mistakes you can make (In my opinion that is):
Denigrating your customers: If you come out and say, “only a moron would buy from my competitor,” you’re effectively closing off every potential client who’s ever bought from that competitor. It makes your potential customer feel embarrassed and out of touch. You want your potential customers to feel good, because happy customers are much more likely to buy.
Denigrating your competition: Talking smack about your competitors doesn’t boost your own business. All it does is make you look like a bully. Instead of insulting the other guy, talk about your product and why it’s a better product. This demonstrates an overall sense of integrity, as well as a genuine belief in the product you’re selling. And if you don’t believe in your product, potential customers won’t either.
Being desperate for a sale: Desperation implies that your product hasn’t been selling, which tells your customer that maybe it isn’t a quality product. You want people to have a favorable perception of your product, which is why so many good marketing techniques rely on urgency and scarcity. Demonstrate that you want the customer’s business, but also demonstrate that you’ll be fine without it.
Focusing on yourself: If you want to sell something to someone, you have to focus on the benefits that product or service brings to them. Don’t talk about what a great marketing coach you are; your potential customers don’t really care what you think about yourself. Instead, focus on what your coaching can do for them. Talk about how your coaching can take their business to the next level, and make it more profitable.
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Maybe the most problem in myself is being desperate for a sale. I used to wanted a fast sale.
Truthfully I think everyone wants a fast sale…you just can look desperate for it…even though you are desperate…
I like how you said you have to focus on the benefits it will bring that person. I am not too sure that I did this in my sales page for my latest ebook.
I am running a comptetion next month and I was thinking of giving 100 tickets to those who bought my ebook and wrote a review about it. Is that getting desperate?
Please let me know before I launch it
@Ryan - I don’t think giving bonuses or running competitions suggests desperation. Some of the most successful marketing campaigns I’ve seen use bonuses in particular to sell a product.
I think maybe he’s talking more about things like “please buy my ebook so my family can eat,” that sort of thing.
Exactly right Bob!
Good points you raised there. By having one or more of these attitude, you will definitely look a lot less professional and this is not good in business.
Well my site is more of a whats happening now mag so I don’t know if i’m approaching things wrong with regards to sales but i’m definately going to think about providing a objective opinion as opposed to just my own.
Thanks
Another mistake that usually happens is exaggerating marketing statements. There’s always a temptation to say something about your product that it cannot deliver and for sure, it will just make it worse for you because the customer will want to take his money back and he can even write a bad review for you. So, try not to overstate the benefits of your product for your own sake.
Personally I don’t think exaggerating claims is a problem for newbies. Have you ever read a headline that says, “Drive torrents of traffic to your website”? Is that exaggeration?
A lot of pros do that and they continue doing that because those claims make money. You call it exaggeration, they call it good writing.
A compelling headline IS, most of the time, exaggerated. That’s what makes it compelling.
On the other hand, I find newbies don’t put enough “passion” into their writing. They are afraid to sound “hypey” and they are afraid to sell. And that makes their sales copy boring.
Of course, it’s basic copywriting that the bigger your claim, the bigger your proof has to be.
Great post Cow. I think a lot of bloggers love to denigrate the competition, but everyone thinks it works. I personally also think it’s stupid to do so.
-Mike
I have to agree with willbill. I’ve worked to hard to build my site and bring in traffic to have it all go down the drain because of overstated promises. Honesty is the best policy.
and one thing that should remember is that do not promise what you don’t have or capable to give. It sometimes makes your customers disappointed making you not to be trusted next time. Trust and confidence that’s the two best ingredients.
Recently, my colleagues are into “networking”. They are selling a certain product but they are more focus not on the product itself but on making money from it if you buy from them, which is kind of annoying.
Jon you are spot on there with your 4 blunders. You actually give away there the equivalent of what would take someone months or even years to learn.
I don’t necessarily think that I brag or exaggerate.
But I am certainly so far behind the times that I am racing to catch up with everyone else that it may seem like desperation.
Good call(s) here. I think denigrating the competition is something first time marketers do out of desperation. It’s a lose/lose situation for everyone. Every industry has competition, it’s know when to pick and choose your battles that’s important. And who knows…perhaps that company you trash today could either end up being YOUR companies newest acquisition, or the other way around…your new bosses.
Is there enough business out there still where people don’t have to trash each other?
The market changes so rapidly. The technology evolving. It seems that newbies already have 20 strikes against them
I think it’s important not to talk down to your customers or competition. Don’t make false promises because if you do you’ll loose potential future business. I buy from people that don’t over sell and that clearly tell me what the product is and does. There are so may salesletters out there that are miles long and say nothing at all except you must buy me know. Heck we have politicians for that
Hit it dead-on John
It’s not only new marketers that do this but those who want to become the next ‘guru’ do it all too often.
They grab a resell rights package, slap around a few paragraphs and use the exact sales letter in their emails the top guns use. Stupid
As for knocking the competition…it’s not good in any business. For no other reason than if your prospective customer hasn’t heard of or used the competition, you just endorsed giving them a try - how else will the customer know the difference?
That’s one of those ‘Don’t Be Stupid’ actions I warn readers of my blog about.
Great tips! As I read your list of four common mistakes, I was able to easily think of businesses whose marketing campaigns caused me to walk away. If you avoid these pitfalls, your marketing plan stands a good chance of being successful. Thanks for posting this!
Good stuff there, I think we all have the tendency to bad mouth others, either competitors, customers or anyone we can to attempt to make ourselves look better! This is also known as gossiping!! And I agree about the blowing your own horn, it’s easy to want to do that, thinking it will help me to gain respect and get the sale. But it’s probably the opposite and turns it off, because most folks get offended easily with someone who comes off as a selfish person.
Great post!!
its amazing tt these are simple things but most ppl dont realise it…and they preach that their styles bring in the money n ppl shld follow..
thanks for sharing this.
-cts-
Hi John!
I think the easiest trap to fall into is the one of ’spreading yourself too thin’. Like I read something on a blog that sounds good and charge off and do it, whereas I shouldn’t touch it until I have made darn sure that what I already have in place is working to max. Sadly, I’m tempted to do this several times a day??
My first mentor summed it up when he said, “do one thing, and do it well!”
Nice Article!
No. 4 is a great one. Think about your customers first and their wallets will thank you.
Great tips Jason, makes total sense.
Thanks,
JR
Thanks Cow! Again you’ve nailed it on the head. Marketing is simply the life blood of any business. And it’s unfortunate that many online home based businesses commit these blunders without bating a eyelid.
I’ve always preached good marketing ethics if you want to succeed online. Here is a similar post I made recently on this:home based marketing business blog
Hey sorry there bombed it!
Here’s the link to that blog post:
How To Market Your Home Based Business Online And Succeed Doing So!
Totally agree 100% with the Focusing on yourself section,you only have to put yourself in the position of the buyer to appreciate that.
I have bought tons of stuff in the past and when I decided to by, the last thing in the decision making was how much money the seller was making, or how big his house was.
The only exception being, if the seller was going to show me how to make some money, then of course, I want him to be making bundles.