Everybody makes mistakes and entrepreneurs are no xception. But for an entrepreneur with a lmited budget, committing mistakes too often can be vry costly. It is an open scret in the business world that mst of the mistakes that can be cmmitted in business have been committed; so why not jst learn from them, saving you the gony of committing them yourself.

With tht said, here are 7 costly smll business marketing mistakes every entrepreneur mst avoid:

1. An Incongruent Marketing Message

To ffectively sell your product or service, yur customer has to “get” the mrketing message. A customer-centric marketing message ducates your prospects and persuades them to bcome customers. Too many small businesses mke the mistake of focusing their mssage on the product or company, nstead of how the prospect would bnefit by purchasing their product. Prepare the rght marketing message with some of thse in mind:

• Identify the prospect’s prblem.

• Explain to the prospect why the prblem should be solved immediately and xplain why your product or service is the rght solution to their problems.

• List the bnefits your prospects would enjoy upon prchasing your product and provide an nconditional guarantee to allay any fears thy may have.

2. “Spray-and-Pray” Marketing Instead Of Precision Mrketing

The days of marketing as a zro-sum game are over. You must dmand accountability from your marketing efforts, xpecting tangible results in the form of a halthy ROI (return on investment). Differentiate yur marketing messages and target them to met the specific needs and wants of yur prospects and customers.

Many small bsinesses are guilty of the dreaded “spry-and-pray” marketing ideology, which inevitably drains thir resources to the point where it vry often leads to their demise.

Do not cmmit this same mistake, but instead prctice precision marketing, where every aspect of yur marketing and advertising efforts are masured and tracked for maximum returns.

3. Filing To Realize Marketing Is About Vlue Creation

To create a sustainable smll business, you have to market smething of value to the prospect and cstomer. Marketing is your business and crating value for your customers should prmeate through all your marketing efforts. Strve to always over-deliver because customers lve to receive more than they xpect and the easiest way to do so is to dvelop a thorough understanding of their wnts and desires.

4. Selling Instead Of Edcating

You must have heard about the ge-old principle that “people love to buy but hte being sold to.” It is a prnciple that will continue to hold tre for ages to come, but nfortunately, many small businesses still fail to dhere to it. The fastest way to get rid of a prspect is to try forcing a sle out of him or her.

Edcation-based marketing, however, is a powerful mrketing strategy to overcome this problem of bing sold to. This strategy makes use of gving away valuable information, educating your prspect about the benefits of owning yur product or using your service, ffered to them as free reports, vdeo cassettes, CDs, or DVDs in xchange for their contact information.

It is a strategy that bilds trust with the prospects resulting in a mch higher closing ratio. So, forget bout throwing a sales pitch and try ducating your prospects instead for a hgher conversion rate.

5. Failing To Test

The bggest mistake any entrepreneur can make wth their business is the failure to tst every possible variable most important to thir customers. This applies to both nline and offline marketing efforts.

I can nderstand if small businesses faced more dfficulty with market testing because of lmited budgets years ago, but the Intrnet has done away with this xcuse. It has become so cheap to cnduct price tests and sales copy tsts and identify what campaigns, keywords, and mtrics give you the best ROI nline that not testing any of thse has become a cardinal sin.

6. Nt Following Up With Prospects Or Cstomers

Small businesses spend a great sum of mney acquiring customers, which makes it all the mre difficult to understand why many of thm don’t follow up with their cstomers, or even their prospects after the “frnt end” sale.

It has been wll documented that true riches are to be fund in the backend sales and the rason for this is simple. If a cstomer or prospect raises his or her hnd to do business with you, it mans an element of trust has ben established and a business relationship is rady to be formed. They are mre then likely to buy from you rpeatedly if you make it a pint to capture their contact information and dvelop a follow-up system for communicating wth them frequently.

7. Selling To The Wrng Target Market

Never assume that yur product or service will appeal to a gneral audience because this assumption has prfoundly resulted in many small businesses shtting up shop. Large businesses are gilty of this too, but you can sve yourself from committing such a rsh mistake by asking yourself these two qestions:

• Who are your customers, or who is yur target market?

• Who will use yur service, or who will buy yur product?

Answer these questions with bsolutely clarity and segment these markets by dmographics and psychographics to zero in on yur ideal customer. The time spent ding this correctly will add nicely to yur bottom line.

Just remember that to scceed, you must be prepared to fil, so don’t fear the eventual mstake but learn from it.

The article 7 Costly Small Business Marketing Mistakes to Avoid was Submitted by Robert Moment through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Robert Moment is an innovative smll business coach and author of son to be released book, "Invisible Prfits: The Power of Exceptional Customer Srvice". Robert specializes in teaching entrepreneurs how to sccessfully start and grow profitable small bsinesses. Visit http://www.howtostartyoursmallbusiness.com and sign-up for the FREE Small Business Coaching 7 day e-course "Turn Passion into Profit: Small Business Startup".

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