Avoid These Classic Marketing Mistakes

Face it: You started your business because you love what you do, and you’re good at it. But getting your company’s message out—which is the essence of marketing—is critical to the success of your business.

The challenge is that there are several missteps that a business owner can make in pursuing a marketing plan. Here are some important ones to avoid:

1. You believe your great work will speak for itself. This means your marketing plan consists of sticking your business card on the local community center bulletin board and otherwise trusting word-of-mouth to draw in customers. Positive word-of-mouth certainly gets results. But you need to take advantage of these positive endorsements to maximize their value. These customer experiences should be documented as testimonials and dispersed through various marketing media—both in print and online. These materials need to say more than simply that your work is outstanding. They need to say why.

“Many small business owners believe that, after the good work is done, more dollars will roll right in,” says Loretta Love Huff, a Phoenix-based business consultant. “They believe they have a ‘gift,’ and that sales and marketing is somehow beneath them. They need to realize that their business will be so much stronger with some promotion.”

2. You don’t market—and network—where the business is. Sure, marketing to potential customers is a solid way to bring them in. But it’s even more effective to market and network in circles that include those who are already serving these customers and need your skills. If you’re a plumber, electrician or landscaper, for example, it’s a great idea to get involved with your local builders or contractors associations or local chambers of commerce to present yourself as someone who can take their business interests to the next level.

“You need to get involved with industry associations,” says Dustin Walling, a Seattle-based management consultant. “You need to make people there remember that you are the ‘preferred’ option for what they need.”

3. Your Web site is your only online marketing presence—and it just sits there. A Web site can’t do your marketing for you. You need to consistently examine, update, and present it as a robust and constantly evolving entity that always has something new and interesting to share with both existing and potential customers. Use it to post your latest success stories—and show how you can deliver that level of quality and service to your next customers. Post interactive links that allow customers to get a concrete idea of how much better their homes will look if they hire you. Then, get out and share more of that experience and expertise via forums and social networking sites where potential customers are flocking in hopes of finding a business like yours.

“Having an interactive Web site can be a way to build rapport,” Huff says. “It’s a way to introduce people to your business and even have them ‘sample’ or otherwise get a better sense of your services before plunking down money on someone they’re unfamiliar with.”

Walling also suggests starting a project blog. “Use it to demonstrate your best work,” he says. “Show before and after photos and talk about the challenges faced and resolved. Be sure to praise your subcontractors and others who helped. That will go a long way toward building trust and credibility.”

4. You don’t analyze where your business is coming from. Marketing is more than buying ads and using online tools to get the word out. It’s also about understanding the who/what/where behind your current customer base and figuring out how to expand upon them.

“After I started my marketing plan and it was working, I got so excited when phones rang that I didn’t track where the customers were coming from,” says Matt Shoup, co-owner of Loveland, Colo.-based M&E Painting LLC. “You need to know the source of the sales here. You need to know how much you spent on that source, and how much income was generated by the source, so you understand the ROI that will come with more focused marketing in that area.”