Remember the HEFTY garbage bags? They taunted the smaller cheaper garbage bags that broke at the first sign of stress as empty bean cans  and rotting chicken bones stretched and poked their plastic skins, busting all over the disgusted housewife’s formerly spotless kitchen floor.

“wimpy, wimpy, wimpy”, the leaky bags would wimper. 

‘HEFTY, HEFTY, HEFTY” , the stronger sturdy bags would chant ; taunting the disgraced and broken wimpy bags….

The fact that we still remember that is proof that Hefty did not engage in wimpy marketing! How about you? Are you engaging in wimpy marketing?

We, of all people shouldn’t be doing anything wimpy. Come on –we’re small business owners. Entrepreneurs. Risk takers.  We’re the brave of the brave – if we liked “easy” we’d still be rotting away in some cubicle somewhere. But we’re not.  We love a good challenge. We thrive on risk. So then WHY in the world do so many of us wimp out when it comes to our marketing??? Why???

Are you wimping out when it comes to your marketing? Here are 7 signs you might be:

1. You avoid the hard stuff – This is number one because this is the biggest mistake I see small businesses make. Read my lips – “MARKETING IS NOT EASY” – or rather EFFECTIVE marketing– that kind that will bring you more qualified leads, more sales, and higher profits—consistently, is not easy. It takes W-O-R-K.  What does that mean exactly? That means you have to do the hard stuff that most of us hate:  study, research, and analyze.
2. You follow your competitors – Fear of stepping out of the box and taking risks prevents a lot of businesses from really shining through and creating that WOW factor they need to stand apart from the crowd.  Take a look at what your competitors are doing and do the opposite. Are they playing it safe? Go risky. Are they all doing print? Find a less crowded place to reach your target market.  (Yes, that will take some research!). AND, your competitors are most likely  making all 7 of these wimpy marketing mistakes- so do you really want to do what they do?
3. You don’t track and measure- These days with the technology we have you can track and measure almost anything. Use landing pages, coupon codes, secret phrases, and special offers to different segments of your market – ANYTHING to determine how a customer found you!  If you aren’t tracking and measuring, you’re guessing and making assumptions – and you know what they say about assuming!!!
4. Your philosophy is “more is better”- More ads, more networking groups, more Facebook likes equals  more unqualified leads and more good money chasing bad.  After all it’s a numbers game right? Wrong! That is so 1960s! Old school sales and marketing is out and technology, surveying, and researching are IN.  Stop wasting your time and money chasing all the wrong people. (Sing it: “Looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for love in too many faces…”  OK, I’m stuck in retro mode!)
5. You’re inconsistent- One ad a year does not a marketing strategy make. Neither does one networking group, one sponsorship, or one flyer.  Marketing is a process. You can’t win potential customers overnight you have to court them and woo them. They have to get used to seeing you around – this builds trust…. And SALES!  This doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot.  Figure out your budget, figure out where and how to reach your target market and create a steady and consistent marketing campaign to reach them. Get creative, mix it up.
6. You copy huge corporations – If it works for Wal-Mart it’s gotta be a good strategy, right? WRONG!!! Well, sorta. It’s probably a great strategy for multi-zillion dollar Wal-Mart but are you a multi-zillion dollar company? I doubt it. So what Wal-Mart does is probably not going to work for you. Wal-Mart spends billions studying their market, their customers, and their competition and then they decide how, when, and where to advertise. Shouldn’t you do the same? Don’t be a copy cat- you can’t cheat or take short cuts here. Do your own homework and find out what’s right ofr your company and your market!
7. You give up too soon – There is no magic pill, no magic ad or networking group or tagline or sale that is going to make you an instant millionaire. This stuff takes consistency, persistence, diligence, and repetition. As long as you’re testing, tracking and measuring, keep at it until you get it right and start seeing a good ROI (Return on Investment). If you’re diligent about this part  you will get where you want to go – I promise!

Ok, so… are you wimpy or are you HEFTY? Let us know!

Want to share?? Please do! Leave your comments here.

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I don’t know what it is about Marketing, but everyone on earth seems to think they can do it. And yet I see so many people NOT doing it or wasting thousands of dollars and not getting results.  I see business owners try the same things over and over,  wasting more money, more time, and more energy. If I had 1/10^th of what business owners waste on stuff that doesn’t work, I’d be the most successful marketing consultant on the planet.  But I’m not because so many business owners would rather go it alone and fail over and over again rather than reach out and get professional help. I don’t get it.

I know there are those out there who will always try to do it themselves so in the spirit of not getting it, here are 21 ways to fail at marketing:

1. Guess – Great marketing isn’t an accident. It takes research, educated decisions, testing, tracking and measuring. Guesswork will leave you customer-less and broke.
2. Do what everyone else is doing- Every business is different and your marketing mix should be too.  Following the crowd isn’t going to help you stand out from the competition!
3. Listen to sales people Marketing is a long term strategy, not a special advertisement, publication, or website; but every sales rep you come in contact with will try to convince you otherwise. Marketing is a process, there is no magic pill and don’t let a slick sales person try to tell you there is.
4. Don’t ask questions –Question EVERYTHING about your business and ask everyone you come into contact with as many questions as possible to learn, grow, and constantly improve.
5. Do nothing – It’s simple, if you don’t Market your business, you will fail.
6. Put all your eggs in one basket – Marketing is like investing, the more diversified your strategy, the better off you will be. Don’t invest all your time and resources in one medium or on one marketing tool – mix it up.
7. Don’t track results – How the heck are you going to know what works and what doesn’t if you don’t track the results? If you’re not tracking you’re guessing, and we covered that in #1!
8. Assume you have all the answers – Yes, I know: you know your business better than anyone. But do you know marketing?  I mean do you REALLY know how and where to reach potential customers and how to convince them to buy from you?
9. Don’t talk to your customers – No one knows your value – or faults – better than the people who actually buy from you. Talk to your customers – often. It’ll provide valuable insight and ideas.
10. Don’t study your competition- If you don’t know how you’re different from your competition how are potential customers supposed to? Knowing your competition’s strengths and weaknesses will help you differentiate.
11. Don’t set goals –Goals keep us on track; they give us direction. Without them you’re wandering aimlessly and most likely wasting a lot of time and money.
12. Don’t build an email list – I don’t understand how anyone can market a business in today’s world without an email list! Email is the easiest and most inexpensive way to stay in touch with customers and prospects.  If you aren’t building a list you’re missing out on huge opportunities.
13. Don’t have an opt in form – Emailing current and past customers is a great start, but what about the people who visit your website, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn pages and then go away never to be heard from again? Wouldn’t’ it be nice to engage the serious window shoppers in some way? An opt-in form is the way to do it!
14. Sell all the time.  We’ve all met the slick schmoozy salesy types, right? And how long does it take you to high-tail it in the opposite direction? Don’t be one of those. An effective marketing strategy eliminates the need to sell all the time… really!
15. Assume because you have a great product or service you don’t need a marketing strategy – Sure, some products and services might market themselves, but that’s rare. Real marketing success takes strategy, planning, and work.
16. Assume that just because you have a good product or service you don’t need a referral system- Again, there are some products and services that people just love to talk about, but building a successful business solely on organic referrals and “buzz” is rare.  Getting solid referrals, consistently takes solid planning and execution. .
17. Assume anyone with a pulse is your client- Repeat after me:  “NOT everyone is a potential client for me”. Now look in the mirror and repeat that every day! Find your niche – that segment of the population you are born to serve and you will uncover a gold mine!
18. Don’t build relationships – I can’t stress enough how important this is. Hiding behind your computer screen, desk, or counter isn’t going to get you the level of success you want. You have to get out there – mingle, be helpful, connect people, and build relationships with the right people!
19. Spend all your time networking in the wrong places –Not every networking group is right for you. Find the ones that will help you get where you want to go and avoid the ones that won’t.
20. Ignore the internet – Facebook and Twitter may not be right for your business, but chances are your target market is going somewhere on line for information about your product or service.  Your job is to find out where they’re going and be there!
21. Don’t hire a professional- If you want to build an addition onto your home would you do it yourself or hire a professional?  I mean, you know your home better than anyone, right? So why not do it yourself? Ridiculous, right? So then why would you try to “add on” – or grow – your business yourself?  Hire a professional who has the right tools and knows the ins and outs of growing a business.

So what do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
 Want to share?? Please do! Leave your comments here.

By the way, if you liked this post, I’d really appreciate your Retweet!!! Thank you.

One thing I realized during my 9-5 career is that the things you don’t say can oftentimes be way more powerful than the things you do say. I remember telling my boss, the VP of Sales, a story about a how another VP of Sales in a past job took a huge account that I had landed away from me and transferred it to a senior rep because he felt I couldn’t handle it. I told this story as a way to prove that I was capable of bringing in big accounts.  But as I told it, I realized that what I was really doing by telling the story was instilling doubt in his mind of my abilities to effectively manage a large account. If another person in his position had made that call, then maybe there was some validity to it.  

I vividly remember sitting there after having spilled the beans, immediately regretting it;   realizing that although I was trying to make myself look capable it really did quite the opposite…  It was a valuable lesson and I learned to be a lot more mindful about what I say – and don’t say!  And that is a skill that is definitely useful in developing marketing communications….

Now cut to yesterday…. I stole a couple of lazy hours on a Saturday afternoon to watch some mindless TV. And on comes a Nutella commercial. I rarely watch commercials these days, but as a marketer when I do, I pay attention. In this particular Nutella commercialI noticed how they positioned the product as a fun, easy, and healthy choice.  I didn’t quite buy the “healthy” claim so I went to my laptop to look up their ingredients. Guess what???  No so healthy…! But it got me thinking again about Marketing and Advertising and clever big corporations are with their messaging – like politicians, they are great at focussing on the good and ignoring the “bad”. So I thought I’d point out what Nutella did in their commercials to help small business owners know what to say – and NOT say!

Here are some lines from their commercial that I thought were interesting uses of marketing messaging. I also included lessons that all small businesses can learn from them.

“Serve it on whole wheat toast or even whole wheat waffles.”  - I love this line.   Without saying the product is healthy, it leads you to believe it’s healthy simply by associating it with something that is healthy!  Using this strategy, you can slap 20 tablespoons of sugar on whole wheat bread and voila! It’s healthy!  Lesson:  In your business, what can you associate your product or service with to make it more appealing to consumers?

“My kids love it and I feel good about serving it.”  - Translation: I don’t have to force my kids to eat healthy stuff they hate- yet, it’s healthy enough that I don’t have to feel guilty about feeding them junk.  Lesson: What emotional affect  does your product or service have on consumers and how can you make them feel good about using it?

“Nutella is made with Simple, Quality ingredients; like hazelnuts, skim milk and a hint of cocoa” –How can you go wrong with nuts and skim milk and just a ‘hint’ of cocoa??? Sounds so nutritious and wholesome and good, doesn’t it? What they don’t say is that the first ingredient is sugar and the second is palm oil (which is proven to increase bad cholesterol).  Lesson: How are you showcasing your best qualities (and down-playing your not-so-great qualities)?

“No artificial colors or preservatives” – What they don’t tell you is there are artificial flavors, but because they say “no artificial colors or preservatives” you forget to ask about artificial “anything” and assume it’s “artificial”/junk free!  Lesson: As small business owners we sometimes feel the need to apologize for the little things we don’t do-  or the services we don’t provide… but instead of apologizing for what you don’t offer, focus on what you DO – and more often than not, people won’t even notice what you don’t do!

I’m not writing this to pick on Nutella or to tell you shouldn’t smother it all over your whole wheat toast for breakfast.  I wrote it to use a real world example of how an effective marketing strategy and careful marketing messaging can transform your product or service. Happy Marketing !

(And one more thing, can you really call it a Hazelnut spread if hazelnuts are only the THIRD ingredient? Wouldn’t it be a sugar spread?” – I guess it’s all about packaging!)

 What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!! Leave your comments here.

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