March 2010

Eleven Marketing Mistakes

By: Brian Offenberger  INSPIRE2010 Speaker

MARKETING MISTAKE #1
Looking Like The Other Guy

This is the most common and fatal mistake of them all. I’m writing this after speaking at the 2009 International Security Conference Show. Hundreds of people gave me their business cards at the show. I walked the floor and saw thousands of exhibits. Companies gave me their marketing brochures. Millions of dollars in time and money were spent on this marketing stuff. The problem is it all looks the same and says the same thing.
Think I’m kidding? Take a look at your marketing and compare it with your competitors. 

          Are you primarily promoting your name, face, company, track record and product line?
          Does your marketing and advertising make similar promises that everyone else makes?
          Does your marketing and advertising look and sound like a lot of other advertisting?
          Do you look at others in your industry to copy things they do?

Are you a passenger in a crowded car…or are you the driver setting a course uniquely your own?

See, there’s a big problem looking like everyone else. About 90% of them are on their way out or struggling to earn even a crappy living. Just because "everybody" thinks traditional image advertising is the way to get business, does not mean it’s the best way…and it’s most certainly not the only way.

Just because someone else is technically competent in small business does not mean they’re good at MARKETING and ADVERTISING. Now I’m not telling you to get a Mohawk and a nose ring here. What I am telling you is that you should focus on marketing that does two things: 1. Gets the response that you want to get – it gets people to buy from you, complete an online lead form, come into your store, visit your website or call you, and 2. It allows you to provide products and services to customers at a profit, with strong cash flow in a consistent way.

Too many of us fall into the trap of our industry. We use its jargon. We talk about the same things our competitors do. We associate with others in our industry and within our company. Soon, we all begin to look alike. We’re afraid to look "different."

Think about this for a moment. Who are you trying to impress with your marketing and advertising? Your peers, or customers who need your product or service?

Give this some deep thought. If you are really scared of being "different", don’t read the rest of this. It’s not for you. Remember though that being different doesn’t mean you are weird, unethical, or goofy. It just means you are different.

Our industry and world is in a period of profound change. Now’s not the time to be caught in the crowd or in the traditional way of marketing and advertising.

Being "different" today leads to being successful, more successful than the others competing for a hard earned dollar. Stop worrying so much about what your peers think and what they are doing. Instead, worry about what your prospects and customers think.

They’re the ones that put your food on the table. Prospects and customers are the only opinions that count.

It does not matter what your competition thinks or what I think. It matters what prospects and customers think. You should give radar-like focus on their opinions at all times. Keep reading to learn how.

MARKETING MISTAKE #2
Saying The Same Old Things

Take a look at the ads or brochures you receive from most any industry. You’ll notice they’re filled with words that have been promised so many times by so many businesses, that they no longer have any impact. You know the words…

Do you fall into that trap?

Now don’t get me wrong. It’s important to provide all these things in your business. My point is though that these words are so overused, most prospects and customers ignore them.

If you want people’s attention in today’s world, you have to tell them something NEW.

I’ll talk to you a little later about how to be different than your competition. Right now though please agree that promising the same old stuff is a BIG MISTAKE.

If everyone else is promoting the same things, and promising the same things, then why would anyone notice you if you’re doing the same?

It’s not enough to PROVIDE great products, superior service and people that are certified and friendly. The true secret is you must COMMUNICATE your outstanding qualities in ways real prospects and customers can relate and respond to.

Begin by talking to your prospects and customers in an interesting way. That will help set you apart. Then, communicate in this interesting way to qualified prospects so they relate to you. Mix in this interesting approach with offers and services prospects really want and you’ll be winning your business race in no time.

"Too many of us fall into the trap of our industry. We use its jargon. We talk about the same things our competitors do. We associate with others in our industry and within our company. Soon, we all begin to look alike." 

MARKETING MISTAKE #3
No Reason To Buy From You Over The Competition

Why should I spend my hard earned money with you instead of the other guy? Come on now, bear down and give your best answer to these questions:
-Given all the possible solutions to my broblem, why should I spend my money on yours?
-Why should I hire you instead of your competitor?
-What's better about you and what's different from the other guy?Here are the problems with these reasons. Your competitor is saying the same thing. And your prospects are tuning it out because they’ve heard it so much it has lost its meaning.

What did you come up with? My bet is you listed things like great service, good people, in business X number of years, top quality and trust. Did I miss anything?

 

Back in 1982 my first mentor, Tom Kushak, taught me a proven advertising formula we’ve successfully applied for hundreds of companies:
-Grab prospect's attention
-Peak their interest and emotions
-Tell a story in a n engaging and relatable way
-Give a reason to take action NOW...make the prospect decide NOW
-Ask the prospect to take action and make it easy for them to do it
-Measure and test to find out what works best

How are you doing in those areas? Is your advertising/marketing really grabbing people’s attention? Do you peak their interest and arouse their emotions? Do you tell stories or talk at them? Do you give reasons for people to take action NOW, or do you tell them the offer "ends soon?" Finally, do you make it easy for prospects to respond or is it a hassle?

Let me give you some help. Take a spyglass out and look at your marketing. Tell me if you see phrases like:
-Number One
-Leader
-In Business Since
-Trusted
-Personal Service
-Quality

These aren’t bad words BUT none of them get people to respond NOW to your marketing and advertising.

Rich people know a secret: people want information. They don’t want to hear about your excellence. They want to know how to get exactly what they want while keeping as much of their hard earned money as possible. ALWAYS keep that in mind.

Start offering people information they want and you’ll be the new resource in their lives!

Now here are your takeaways:
-Your only objective in marketing and advertising is to sell something at a profit or to lower costs.
-You must focus on solving customer problems or needs. They don't care about your excellence until they know you can help them.
-Advertising and marketing must be presented from the prospect's point of view.
-You must always give the customer a reason to respond NOW.
-Your offers and marketing must always contain clear, easy instructions to the prospect about how to respond.
-Always track and measure the results of your efforts to optimize for maximum impact.


MARKETING MISTAKE #4
Being Boring

Let them love you or let them hate you but don’t ever let them be bored by you. Most advertising is boring. It isn’t fun to read or entertaining in any way. That’s why we tune it out. No matter how technically competent your business may be, it still needs customers. Customers are people. People like entertainment, good news, and a reason to smile.

Are you seeing something here? Growing your business the way I teach is much more profitable than the "old way" of marketing you’ve been taught by others.

My guess is you are seeing a HUGE difference between what we’re talking about and the approach taken by most businesses and salespeople (and we’ve got lots more available as we move forward with more lessons, newsletters and blog postings in the future).

You’ll see even more examples of lead generation efforts, including website examples, online ad copy, brochures, sales letters and more… anything that’s designed to get people to read, listen or respond. Here is a secret: Advertising and marketing shouldn’t be so professional and so uninteresting that no one pays attention to it. It’s not supposed to be boring. For it to work, it must grab people’s attention and gain their interest. There is no other way.

Let me share with you parts of a sales letter I got from the SVP of one of the world’s largest companies. I was hired to speak at their national dealer meeting, and I received a copy of the meeting follow-up letter sent to their dealers.

"Dear Brian," the letter began. "Thank you for attending the 2009 _______ Dealer Appreciation Meeting. It was our most successful meeting ever! Our recent re-structuring has positioned _______ well in this tough economy and our new (insert model number) is sure to be a market winner." Blah….blah, blah…blah, blah, blah.

I know you see what’s happening here. It’s so professional that even if I WAS a dealer, I’d be bored to tears and setting it aside in a matter of seconds. Trust me when I tell you that marketing that works is never boring.

Now is gut-check time. Get under the hood of your marketing and your website. Is your stuff boring? Think carefully about what I am teaching. Don’t make the mistake of thinking what you find interesting is the same thing your customers find interesting.

Most companies talk only about what they do and the features of their products and services. Unfortunately, only your peers and people in your field find that interesting.

Your prospects and customers only care about what’s in it for them. They don’t give a darn about what you think is interesting…their concern is with themselves and their problems. If you want to lose prospects and turn them away in droves, keep the boring, highly "professional" stuff. If you want to sell stuff, start writing like a normal person in an engaging, informative way (and on our blog we’ll write frequently about how long your copy and sales letters should be and what you should say).

My good friend and esteemed copywriter Dave Simon always says good advertising always answers for the prospect, "What’s In It For Me?" Dave is right. Just like you, people care most about what’s in it for them. And if you believe that, you better place it at the center of your marketing efforts.

People are bombarded with more than 5000 ad messages a day. That means you have SECONDS AT MOST to get their attention. Then, if you get their attention, they may give you ANOTHER BLINK OF THE EYE to see what you have. This is a moment of truth…they’ll either give you their attention or you’ll lose them…just like that.

That means your marketing must get and keep people’s attention through the entire message…at a minimum long enough so they will take your desired business action.

Most of your prospects are sitting in front of your message (website) with a mouse in their hand. If you bore them, one click and they are gone. How well does your website hold up to such a test? You better give it some thought (and use web analytics to find out) because that’s the firing line pressure you face every day.

 

MARKETING MISTAKE #5
Using Outdated Advertising Channels

Take a look around you at the local community in which you live and work. Specifically, look at your newspaper and television stations. Have you noticed something? All the newspapers (if your town still even has one) and television stations are scrambling to get people to visit their websites and online content. If you watched CNN lately, you know they report more about conversations on Twitter than they do investigative reporting.

Now why do you think that is? Could it be that consumers are getting their news online, watching video online, buying things online, and socializing online…leaving traditional news, information and advertising mediums like television, print, radio and direct mail desperately gasping for a decreasing supply of oxygen?

Yep, that’s it. Consumers are flocking online in a historically unprecedented fashion. The internet (via search engines) is the number one place people turn to for goods, information and services. People are online in increasing numbers (and all the fancy pants ad salesmen have the numbers to prove it).

Yet despite all the evidence that prospects have abandoned traditional ad channels, small businesses still spend fortunes on them.

When my uncle taught me to fish, he always told me to drop the line in a pond that had fish in it. Why then are most companies fishing in ponds that have no fish?

You no longer need a television station to deliver a video message to your target audience. You can create one YOURSELF, put it on YouTube, send it out via email and put it on a blog…all ways to reach highly selective, highly targeted prospects in this, the internet era.

How about advertising on Google, Bing or Facebook? How about making your own radio commercial (in the online world we call it "podcasting") and putting it out to your audience? All these things are easy, real, and most of all, effective.

How much of your marketing budget is allocated to television, newspaper, magazines, radio and direct mail? How does that compare to your online marketing budget? How much time do you spend guessing about the impacts of traditional media versus analyzing the reality we gain from online efforts?

If the lion’s share of the pie isn’t allocated to online marketing, you’ll soon be on your way to the land of the dinosaurs.

Interesting marketing must reach the right audience at the right times to be effective. In today’s era, you must do that through channels like search engines, online advertising, social media marketing, article distribution, email marketing and much more.

The old channels used for marketing are about to go off the air. And you are evidence of that. Let me give you a refresher in case you forgot.

You attended a 60 minute online webinar or came to a website. Because of it you decided to respond.

You asked for this free report. We don’t cut corners and try to "keep it short"…we tell the whole story.

Getting people to listen to you is no easy task, and you are no exception.

You may never have heard of us before. You might not have attended one of our seminars or webinars or heard our radio show. Yet, you were willing to give it a shot and learn what I had to say. That’s pretty effective marketing, don’t you think? Wouldn’t you like to have your prospects make the same type of commitment to you…kind of like the one you made to us?

They will, IF you offer information in an entertaining way delivered through the right channels.

You can have the best messaging in the world but it will fail if your audience does not read, see or hear it.

Check out Mistakes #6 - #11 in the April issue of connect!