Marketing can seem like a minefield – one false step and your dreams of propelling your company into profit are destroyed. Here are three of the most common marketing mistakes that business owners make … avoid following in their footsteps!

1. No market research

A business based purely on your ‘good feeling about it’ or the support of friends and family is a risky one. You need to test your product and your potential market before you begin.

You need to be able to answer the following questions:

• Do customers want what you have and will they pay a price that will be profitable for you?
• What are your potential competitors doing to sell their product or service?
• How will your product be different from what is already available?
• Are there segments within your target market that are not being served?
• Is that segment of the market big enough for you to make a sustainable profit?
• Does that segment have the potential to grow?
• How much of that segment do you need before your business breaks even and moves into profit?
• Are there already too many competitors in that segment of the market?
• Is there a weakness in the way your competitors reach or serve customers that you could capitalise on?
• How do your potential competitors reach their customers? Who are their customers?
• Can you reach your customers easily? Can they afford to buy your product?

Market research at this stage will save you a fortune long-term. Define your product’s ‘Unique Selling Proposition’, the quality that sets it apart from the competition, so you understand the benefits and problem-solving attributes of your product. Be clear and base this on evidence rather than instinct or good feelings so you know that customers will want to pay for your product or service.

2. No marketing plan

A marketing plan features the strategies you will use to reach your customers to sell your product or service. Without it, your activities risk being reactive, inconsistent and probably ineffective, wasting you time and money.

A good marketing plan gives you a clear indication of what you need to do to get to where you want to go. An excellent marketing plan makes it a journey you’ll want to take! Start with your ultimate objective and then work backwards, deciding what you need to do to reach (or surpass!) each target along the way.

3. No marketing goals

Without goals, you won’t know how successful (or unsuccessful) your marketing is. You need to have daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals for the number of leads, referrals, and clients your marketing will produce and to update those continually.