{"id":14508,"date":"2012-06-04T00:03:04","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T05:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crowdspring.wpengine.com\/?p=14508"},"modified":"2022-05-06T19:05:59","modified_gmt":"2022-05-07T00:05:59","slug":"marketing-mistakes-to-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/marketing-mistakes-to-avoid\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Business and Startup Tips: 5 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Marketing your small business is simple, right? Just get your web page live, set up a Twitter account and a Facebook page, start building that email list and you’re on your way to endless riches! Well, unfortunately it is not quite that easy and many businesses end up making mistakes that they could have easily avoided.<\/p>\n

We have written often about lean marketing techniques, provided lots of ideas on tactics and strategies for marketing,<\/a> discussed budgeting<\/a>, offered pointers on testing<\/a>, given advice on analysis<\/a>, and suggested tools<\/a> to use, but we have never really talked about what NOT to do with your marketing efforts. Until now that is.<\/p>\n

It has been pointed out that history repeats itself and the same can be said of the mistakes that managers make. The great philosopher, George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.<\/em>” Or as that other great philosopher, Yogi Berra said, “This is like deja vu all over again.<\/em>” Small business owners can an should learn from the mistakes of those who came before them, and should work hard to not repeat the mistakes that you will inevitably make. Learn from the experience of others and, more importunity, learn from your own experience.<\/p>\n

Here are 5 mistakes that many managers will fall prey to; avoiding these will (hopefully) help you to gracefully sidestep some of the obstacles in your path.<\/p>\n

1. Trusting your instincts. <\/strong>Building your business is a complex undertaking and, for better our worse, every action you take will have an impact on its performance, profitability, and growth. Each and every one of us is a walking victim of our own biases and beliefs;<\/a> from day 1 you should go to lengths to avoid letting your own bias get in the way of making good decisions. The ultimate antidote to instinct and “gut” is data. A maxim of business is “that which can not be measured can not be managed” is a good approach here; every marketing effort you design and every campaign you launch should be designed with measurement in mind and it’s success or failure should be based on how well it performs. In other words, if you can’t figure out how to collect data on a campaign, you probably shouldn’t do it, even if your “instinct” is telling you that you should.<\/p>\n

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