Common Marketing Mistakes Small Business Make
Lately, I’ve read a few wonderful books on marketing, including Allan Dib’s The 1-Page Marketing Plan and Donald Miller’s Building A Story Brand. Below are some of the critical learnings for me— what to avoid in our small business marketing strategy.
Mistake 1 — Follow the lead of large companies’ branding strategy to “get my name out there”, which requires frequent exposure of the brand through various types of advertising media.
Ideally, by doing this, our brand will stay on top of potential customers’ mind, so they are more likely to pick our brand when making a purchase decision. But as small businesses, it’s a different story. We don’t have the budget big companies have to do mass marketing frequently enough to be effective. It’s very much like a drop in the ocean.
Mistake 2 — We try to serve the broadest audience as possible, we want to sell a one-size-fits-all solution, we want to make everyone happy, and worry to exclude any potential customers.
However, if we don’t have a focus, our message will be diluted and become less relevant. Instead of focusing on a niche. We want to sell a pain killer product, a need-to-have; rather than a vitamin product, a nice-to-have. Think about it, we would pay much more for a medical specialist than a general doctor in case of a critical health issue — when we focus on the niche, price becomes irrelevant. Many small business and start-ups fail because they were fighting the apathy of the market, and they run out of time before they raise the audience’s awareness. Therefore, it is better to own 80% of a 10,000 market than 1% of a 1,000,000 market. Focus on a niche and then expand.
Mistake 3 — Instead of focusing on the customers’ needs, thoughts, and emotions, our marketing is inwardly focused. We are shouting “look at me”, our message is self-aggrandizement, we position ourselves as the hero.
Everyone leaves in a protagonist life, no matter how humble he/she is. People are not looking for another hero, instead, they are looking for a guide who can help alleviate their pain and direct them to get out of trouble. We should position our product and brand as the guide, filled with empathy, authority, and credibility.
Mistake 4 —Our marketing messages failed to focus on what helps people survive and thrive.
Human brains are constantly sorting through a tremendous amount of information we encounter, and discard the unnecessary. We only pay attention to things that help us survive and thrive, everything else is noise. Without laser-focus on their needs and essential problems, our marketing message and products will be ignored.
Mistake 5 — Our marketing message is complicated, confusing and boring. We use too many numbers and statistics that are hard to digest.
However, human brains are very conservative in energy consumption, they try to ignore the message if it burns too much calorie to be understood. Instead, consider leverage storytelling to organize the message in a meaning and digestible way that makes sense to people.
Mistake 6 — We are hunting for immediate customers, instead of nurturing leads and building a relationship based on trust.
We focus on direct selling via marketing, instead of capturing leads and building a pipeline of potential customers for the near future. However, statistics show only 3% of prospects are ready to buy immediately, which means we are losing the other 97% if we try to sell immediately. Instead, build a lead capture system, and position yourself as an authority and nurture them until sales become a natural consequence.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on this topic.
