Introduction:

As part of our white paper series, from time to time we offer articles by guest authors with a particular expertise outside our own. Since many of our clients are business owners themselves, our intention is to provide them with best practice expertise on a variety of themes relevant to personal and business success. In the following white paper, one of our clients, John Gumas, provides a mini marketing guide for businesses looking to improve their overall marketing plans. Be sure to bookmark our Resource Center for future white papers on other topics of interest to small business owners and other professionals. 

Keys to Marketing Your Business

The marketing and promotion of any product or service is a challenge. Most company owners have many questions when it comes to effectively promoting their business. What’s the best way to market my company?  Which strategies will deliver the greatest results? How do I best allocate my budget to get the greatest impact and ROI? How do I effectively position myself relative to my competitors? These are just some of the challenges you may have.
 
In an effort to help you answer some of these critical questions, we’ve compiled a list of five of the most common advertising mistakes we see companies make when marketing their products and services.

The Five Most Common Advertising Mistakes

Mistake #1 -– Creating Institutional, Instead of Direct Response, Advertising
Successful direct response advertising is the process of providing your target audience with a compelling reason to respond coupled with a strong call-to-action. That call-to-action could be as simple as “call us,” “visit our website” or “get a free something”. Typically, prospects will respond if there is a compelling reason. So, be sure to give them an offer they can’t refuse. Create a sense of urgency – you want to hear from your target immediately.
 
Mistake #2 – Not Having a USP
A Unique Selling Proposition, or USP, is what differentiates you from your competition. Without one, you are just another company out there. Saying you offer better service, have great quality or have the best employees in town are simply not strong enough to be USPs. What makes you different from your competitors? What benefit do you offer that your competitors don’t? What can you become famous for?  Some companies actually use their USP as a part of their name, such as Best Buy, Budget Car Rental or Bob’s All Natural Foods. Define your true USP and stick to it.
 
Mistake #3 – Failure to Address Your Customers’ Needs
We see it all the time. Business owners are so confident that they know exactly what their customers want, because it’s what they want. Don’t fall into this trap. You need to be truly objective when it comes to discovering the true needs of your customers. Successful companies always ask their prospects and customers what they want. They don’t assume. The only reason someone does business with you is to fulfill a need or solve a problem. You need to determine what these needs and wants are, and then be able to satisfy them better than any of your competitors.
 
Mistake #4 – Talking Features and Not Benefits
Have you ever seen those long-winded flyers  touting the many features of a product or service? They just ramble on about everything you never wanted to know. Avoid this pitfall. Instead, try not to focus on your company, product or service but rather the requirements of your target audience and how your product or service can solve these. All your prospect cares about is “what’s in it for me?” Whether it’s your web site or your promotional materials, always emphasize the benefits and then support those benefits with product offerings.
 
Mistake #5 – Not Having a Back-end
Many companies put 100% of their advertising focus toward generating new customers. Typically, of those new prospects that respond, a very small percentage actually buys now. But what happens to those prospects that were interested, but were just not ready to buy at that time? Most companies walk away from these prospects. You need to have a strong back-end marketing strategy in place that reaches out to these prospects on a regular basis, with useful information, product updates and other relevant material. A back-end program works best via email and is a very cost effective way to speak to this group. Done right, it can help you convert a larger percentage of these prospects over time.

In addition to these frequent advertising mistakes there is another common snag to avoid by doing some critical up-front planning…

Don’t Throw Out the Baby with the Bath Water

We see it happen all too often: A marketer tries a specific tactic a couple of times, say a newspaper or magazine ad; they may even be diligent and try it many times. Then, if they don’t get the response they expect, they decide newspaper or magazine advertising doesn’t work.

Sometimes, it might not be the tactic at all. Think of your marketing as the driver in a car. And think of your marketing tactics as the engine of that car. Once behind the wheel, if you know where you want to go and how to get there, your marketing tactics will help you get there quickly and efficiently. But if you’re driving without directions or a map, then it doesn’t matter how finely tuned your engine is or how many horses it has.

Think of a marketing plan as that map. Without an effective marketing strategy, you’ll never achieve the results you want, no matter how much time and money you spend (or how many horses you have under the hood).

A marketing plan can take the shape of an overall marketing program, or it can be broken into a tactic-specific plan. For example, a high-profile radio ad campaign won’t help you grow your business unless it includes a timely message that will attract the specific needs of your target customer. An article written about you in the newspaper or trade press can bring in new clients or be a worthless conversation piece. Outbound email messages or blog entries can either end up in your prospects’ delete bins, or they can prompt them to contact you.

So what are the fundamental principles of a sound marketing plan? The following are some of the basic elements we include in our marketing strategies. Your particular situation will always prompt even more specific elements.

1. Target Audience

The most basic of all elements, but it is amazing how many marketers take this information for granted. Truly know who your customers are (both demographically and psychographically) and why they buy from you.

2. Key Competition

Always know every purchase option your prospect has and what your competitors are saying to attract your prospect so you can offer something better or different.

3. Key Benefits

Why is your product or service better than the competition, and how does this relate directly to the needs of your target?

4. Objective

Define your success. What does this marketing plan or tactic have to do or deliver to be successful?

5. Strategy

After you’ve answered items one through four above, what needs to be done to make your definition of success a reality?

Before you begin any marketing tactic, be sure you know what success needs to look like. And before you decide a particular tactic doesn’t work, make sure that the strategy was a sound one.


John Gumas is the President of Gumas, a strategic branding, advertising and interactive marketing firm based in San Francisco. He is also the author of the popular book “Marketing Smart, how Challenger Brands can take on their larger competitors and win.” John is a highly sought-after speaker and has given countless presentations on Challenger Brand marketing to his peers, companies, conferences, college students and, on occasion, his barber! John currently sits on many boards, including the San Francisco Giants Community Fund, The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, The San Francisco State University Foundation, The Greater San Francisco Advertising Club, The California Geo-Tourism Council and The Elios Society. In addition, John is an adjunct professor of advertising and marketing, a regular columnist for numerous publications, and a frequent public speaker.

You can contact John at jgumas@gumas.com or follow his marketing advice on Twitter and LinkedIn.