Marketing Campaign No No's

No no.#5: Not Targeting a Specific Market

No one can sell their product to everyone, so if you are trying, you will fail. If you launch a marketing campaign without knowing who you are selling to it will be ineffectual and you will have wasted a ton of money. If you think your market is "everyone" you will struggle to attract anyone.

How to avoid this mistake: If you think you are going to loose potential customers by niche marketing, think again. View target marketing as inclusive rather than exclusive. Try it for awhile and you will see the results. People want to buy from businesses that understand them and what they want. If your business can't do that, they won't buy from you.

No no.#4: Targeting the Wrong Market

Do not target a market that cannot afford your product or that is so small that it cannot sustain your business. If you find you are competing with someone's rent money, you will loose business. If the niche market you are targeting is too small, like male models between the ages of twenty and twenty-five who only model swimwear, you may not get enough business to sustain you.

How to avoid this mistake: First, examine your product and its potential for long-term and repeat sales then identify a broader niche market, like men between the ages of twenty and twenty-five. Create a customer profile that will help you identify who your potential buyers are and what they want.

No no.#3: Non-Action

All the research and planning in the world won't get you anywhere unless you do something about it. Activity is not productivity, nor will it bring in more money unless you put what you've learned to use. In order for your business to be successful, you have to sell, in order to sell you have to market, which means you have to get out there and do.

How to avoid this mistake: If you are afraid of failure, start small, track your results, and build from there, but don't just sit on your hands and wait for people to come to you, because they won't. Remember that mistakes are apart of business. Learning what won't work is a valuable lesson and gets you that much closer to what will work, so don't be frozen by failure.

No no.#2: Trying to be Creative rather than Strategic

You hear a lot about how you have to be creative in your marketing to draw in potential customers. This isn't true. Marketing has been around a long time and there are tried and true principals that work every time if you apply them. Don't try to re-invent the wheel. Marketing is more about strategy than creativity.

How to avoid this mistake: Figure out what made big name businesses successful and use the same principles in your marketing. It takes a lot less time to use what works than to try and invent something that may or may not work. Realize that great marketing ideas are used over and over again and it's okay to learn from other's mistakes.

No no.#1: Marketing without Research

If you jump into marketing without research, you are making a costly mistake. If you think you know what people want and how to sell it to them, you are wrong. You only know yourself. You have to put in the time and effort to find out what people really want and how they want to be sold on it.

How to avoid this mistake: Before you launch your marketing campaign, take a little time to actually talk to potential customers and find out if what you are planning to do will actually work for them. You don't have to make a mistake in your first campaign to do it right the second time. Do some research and you'll be surprised by what you find.