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.  And yet, so many business owners would rather go it alone and try and fail and try again and fail 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, so in the spirit of not getting it, here are the top 21 reasons why most small business owners fail at marketing:

1. Guessing – Great marketing isn’t an accident. It takes research, educated decisions, testing, tracking and measuring. Guesswork will leave you customer-less and broke.
2. Doing 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. Listening 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 – a long term strategy, there is no magic pill and don’t let a slick sales person try to tell you otherwise.
4. Not asking 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. Doing nothing – It’s simple, if you don’t Market your business, you will fail.
6. Putting 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. Not tracking 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. Assuming 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 convince them to buy from you?
9. Not talking 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. Ignoring 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. Not setting 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. Not building 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. Not having  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. Selling 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. Assuming 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. Assuming 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 planning and solid execution. .
17. Assuming 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. Not building 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. Spending 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. Ignoring 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. Not hiring 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.

Many of my clients are business owners and entrepreneurs, and we often discuss succession planning. If you don’t have a family member who is the obvious heir apparent, what do you do?

I think the question of succession planning isn’t just for entrepreneurs, though. It’s certainly a topic of discussion in board rooms and at meetings. Yet I don’t often see companies of any size with a real focus and plan in place.

It’s more than simply finding the next president or CEO. It’s more than just finding someone to take over your business or buy you out. Succession planning should be considered for every key position within your organization. It’s about how you develop and build managers and leaders. It’s about how you cross-train, develop new skills in your current staff and build bench strength within departments.

Whether you are a company of 20 people, 200 people or 2,000 or more, you cannot build a long-term successful organization if you continually have to replace your people. So what if, as part of your planning process, you included a plan for building new skills in your current staff? Imagine how much less time you would have to spend interviewing and hiring, training and handling performance problems, and determining how you get the workload covered if a person resigns. Of course, as your company grows you will need to bring on additional talent, and as part of the interview process you should consider what their potential is, both short- and long-term.

If you wait to consider succession planning when you are ready to retire, take on a new role, or when key people leave your company, it’s already too late.

Your business idea is brilliant. Nobody else is doing it. You’ve got no competition. It’s sure to be a gold mine, right?

Maybe.

One mistake many new businesses make is thinking that just because nobody else is doing exactly what they’re doing, their business is a sure thing.

The smart thing to do is ask yourself  ”why isn’t anyone else doing it?” It’s possible that nobody’s selling cod-liver frozen yogurt in your area because there’s simply no market for it. Ask around, talk to people, do your market research. If you determine that you’ve got customers out there, you’re in good shape.

But that still doesn’t mean there’s no competition.

There may not be another cod-liver frozen yogurt shop within 500 miles. But maybe an online distributor sells cod-liver oil to do-it-yourselfers who make their own fro-yo at home. Or maybe your potential customers are eating frozen salmon pops right now.

Don’t think of competition as only other businesses who do exactly what you do. Think about what currently exists on the market that your product would displace. When Henry Ford started successfully mass producing automobiles in the U.S., he didn’t have other auto makers to compete with. His competition was horse-and-buggy makers, bicycles, and railroads.

Sometimes you have to think outside of the box when planning your business. Chances are, if you’ve got a product or service that appears to have no competition, you’ve already got a talent for thinking differently. Be sure to put that talent to use.

photo by flickr user TheCulinaryGeek

Companies face many change-management issues: technology, people, customers, company focus,  and benefits, to name just a few. Yet I don’t often hear people talk about thinking differently as a change-management issue.

Yes, we discuss corporate culture changes, but what I’m referring to here is changing people’s thinking that planning isn’t possible. Even leadership starts with the construct that planning isn’t possible: “There are too many unknowns and things that could change to plan. And besides, I’d never be able to get people to do it anyhow.”

To me, one the biggest change-management issues is first getting leaders to consider that planning is possible and then to infuse this belief throughout the organization.

How do you do this? Planning isn’t the written document. It’s the process and visioning that you go through to create it. Thus the first step is to shift our thinking about planning from a document to the process. Without this process we never stretch beyond our comfort zone. When we don’t stretch, we miss the breakthrough possibilities.

Secondly, even the document you create should be considered a living document. It’s meant as a guide for you to assess where you are, every month and quarter, and to help you determine what changes you need to make. You’ll never be able to forecast everything, let alone plan around it. That’s why you return your plan and revise as needed.

Finally, let go of the belief that others won’t embrace planning. If you believe they will embrace it, and encourage them to, they will eventually. Just remember, change-management issues mean shifting how people think, believe, and react. You play a role in this, and it starts with you and how you think, believe, and act.

]]> http://upandrunning.bplans.com/2011/11/08/change-management-issue-thinking-planning-isnt-possible/feed/ 1 http://upandrunning.bplans.com/2011/10/14/the-process-of-planning/ http://upandrunning.bplans.com/2011/10/14/the-process-of-planning/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:00:41 +0000 Chelle Parmele http://upandrunning.bplans.com/?p=7142

When is a plan not a plan? When it’s a tool.

Perhaps the most important factor in achieving your desired result and turning your plan into a management tool is regularly reviewing the plan.

In the final two videos of Tim Berry’s video series on how to write a successful business plan, he talks about the actual heart and soul of business planning.

It’s not in the number of pages you have, or in how the finished product looks, or even if everything is spelled right. It’s in its ongoing success. Were you able to take your thoughts, ideas, forecasts and plans and make them work? Did your work on the original plan give you the proper base from which to continue your business by making adjustments, setting goals and milestones and achieving them as close as possible to what you’d planned?

This is the key.

A business plan is never done.

(If you can’t see the videos above, you can view them on our how to write a business plan video page)

Tim has taken us through what a business plan is, how to just jump in and get started, how to hone your strategy and focus… now it’s time for the reason why you started a business in the first place. Money!

Knowing how much money you have and how much you need are two important parts of a successful plan and a successful business. But just as important is forecasting out your sales.  According to Tim Berry, good forecasts are created by forming well organized, educated guesses based on research and past results. In other words -  it’s okay to be wrong in your forecasting! But make sure you pay attention to where you were off and why. That will help you make better guesses in the future!

(If you can’t see the videos above, you can view them on our how to write a business plan video page)

We’re continuing the series from Tim Berry on how to write a successful business plan.

Yesterday we learned the basics and how to get going, today Tim talks you through narrowing your focus and strategy.

I’ve learned a lot from Tim over the years, and this quote from him is something I’ve found myself passing along to others – “You don’t write your plan in the same order that somebody would read it.”   It’s one of those things that after you hear, you totally get. Of course you wouldn’t write a summary of your plan first thing! And yet, that’s where so many people seem to start.  Check out the next two video’s from Tim below.

(If you can’t see the videos above, you can view them on our how to write a business plan video page)

Business planning is about determining your business future.

Where do you want your business to go?
Where should it be in three years?
What are the steps to get there?

Wouldn’t it be great if you had someone who could help you through the hard parts of business planning? Maybe give you a guiding hand in the how and why of it all?

This week we’re going to be posting Tim’s popular business planning video series.

Tim has spent years studying and honing his process of writing successful plans. And he’s passing that knowledge on to you.

We’re starting with the first two videos.

(If you can’t see the videos above, you can view them on our how to write a business plan video page)

Writing business plans … yuck! At least that is what most of my clients say. Some tell me it’s not important. Others tell me that when they write down goals they never achieve them. Still others … well, this whole post could be the excuses I hear on why leaders do not write business plans. Frankly, I think the business management skill of planning isn’t taught well, used often enough and isn’t when you want something quick and easy. Announcing that you want 20% growth isn’t a business plan. It’s merely a statement; it’s not even a goal.

Remember, goals have three attributes. They have to be specific, measurable and have a timeline attached. In the above example, saying you want 20% growth in a specific product line by the end of the calendar year is now a goal. It still isn’t a plan, as the plan has to include how you are going to get there, what has to happen, what the metrics are along the way that tell you where you are on the road to reaching the goal, etc., etc.

Why are we so adverse (or afraid) of planning? Why do organizations not spend enough time teaching the business management skill of planning? Conversely, why do organizations write elaborate plans, only to shove them in a drawer till the next ‘planning season’ rolls around?

If companies used planning as the tool for which it was intended – to create a map for the future of the company and how they are going to get there – they would derive enormous benefit from the planning process.

The document itself is not the value of planning. The value comes from the thought process, the strategizing, the involving of others in the direction or how-to-get-there part of the process.

This is year-end for many companies. Maybe this year you will rethink your planning process, or lack thereof, and see how to turn it into an experience that benefits not just the bottom line but all the people involved.

If your company’s message seems to be getting lost in the shuffle, perhaps now is the time to think about re-branding what you have been saying to consumers.

As you give consideration to possibly re-working your brand, keep in mind that a change involves a number of facets, many of which will cost your company money.

Most importantly, is it worth losing the time, effort and recognition that went into defining your brand in the first place? Simply put, many customers get used to a brand that they can identify with, so are you going to ruffle some feathers by changing what they already know?

Perception and Reality

If your company is toying with the idea of a brand change, remember that it took you time and money to establish your brand, something that did not happen overnight.

Are you seeing a major drop-off in revenue that is leading you to consider a branding change or are you trying to keep up with the competition who may have changed brands and are seeing more success?

When a company contemplates changing its brand, it first needs to look at several factors:

• Will the change involve a lot of time, effort and money?
• Is the change being done do to economics, a desire to translate a new message or a combination of the two?
• What are the possible ramifications with customers when we make this change?
• Have we done everything possible to maximize our current brand?

If re-branding is still in your thoughts, you will need to decide how far you want to go with the new approach.

With a complete brand overhaul, you are looking at presenting yourself as a new company that can still leverage the assets you have built to attain. Among the options here is changing your company’s name and redefining your company’s products and/or services.

If your company chooses a slower transition, the best option is to implement smaller changes so that you do not do a 180 and have customers scratching their heads.

Whichever road your company selects, be sure to accurately and efficiently notify your customers and potential customers of the changes. Nothing will upset the customer base more than if you put in places changes that will impact what they can buy from you, their terms of purchase and especially cost increases.

Speaking of costs, yes, something any business owner hates dealing with make sure you project what the expenses of a brand change will involve before implementing such a move.

Among the cost issues with re-branding are:

• Promotional items;
• Letterhead and business cards;
• Advertising.

As you can see, re-branding is something that takes a lot of thought, especially on the financial end of things.

If your company’s branding message seems to be stuck in neutral, consider the different options available before completely re-branding your business.

A major re-branding does come with consequences, some of which you may not like.