5 Catastrophic Marketing Mistakes and How To Avoid Making Them

As global markets tighten and customers become ever more discerning, you really can not afford to blow your chances of a sale through making any one of the following marketing mistakes.They are simple mistakes to make but potentially fatal for your business.

1.No market research

A business based purely on your good feeling about it or the support of friends and family is a risky one.

You need to test your product and your potential market before you begin.

You need to be able to answer the following questions: Do customers want what you have and will they pay a price that will be profitable for you?What are your potential competitors doing to sell their product or service?How will your product be different from what is already available?Are there segments within your target market that are not being served?Is that segment of the market big enough for you to make a sustainable profit?Does that segment have the potential to grow?How much of that segment do you need before your business breaks even and moves into profit?Are there already too many competitors in that segment of the market?Is there a weakness in the way your competitors reach or serve customers that you could capitalise on?How do your potential competitors reach their customers?Who are their customers?Can you reach your customers easily?Can they afford to buy your product?

Market research at this stage will save you a fortune long-term.Define your products Unique Selling Proposition, the quality that sets it apart from the competition, so you understand the benefits and problem-solving attributes of your product.Be clear and base this on evidence rather than instinct or good feelings so you know that customers will want to pay for your product or service.

2.No marketing plan

A marketing plan features the strategies you will use to reach your customers to sell your product or service.

Without it, your activities risk being reactive, inconsistent and probably ineffective, wasting you time and money.A good marketing plan gives you a clear indication of what you need to do to get to where you want to go.An excellent marketing plan makes it a journey you will want to take!Start with your ultimate objective and then work backwards, deciding what you need to do to reach (or surpass!) each target along the way.

3.No marketing goals

Without goals, you will not know how successful (or unsuccessful) your marketing is.

You need to have daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals for the number of leads, referrals, and clients your marketing will produce and to update those continually.

4.Following your competitors lead

Model (not copy) what has worked for your competitors in a campaign, an advertisement or marketing strategy but only if you know it has produced results.

It would be unwise to follow them down an expensive path if it produced no visible, viable results!

5.Not knowing your customers

Forget trying to sell to everyone - only a tiny percentage of the population will want your product or service and you need to identify who they are.

You need to find a way of appealing to the people who are most likely to buy from you.Know their needs, desires, wants, and problems so that your marketing message can appeal to them directly.The result: you will increase your sales, save money and time.Why do they need your product or service?What are their problems and how will your product solve them?Why would they buy from your company?What is it about your product or service that would appeal to them?How do you reach them on a consistent basis?Where can you reach them?What drives them price, quality, prestige, etc.and does your product or service meet their criteria?This is crucial if, for example, your product is a high-end, labour-intensive beautifully crafted product and your potential customers want lots of cheap and cheerful easily replaceable products, you are just not going to sell enough to sustain your business.

About the Author

Strategies like that can explode your small business quickly, that's why I'd suggest you go right now to http://www.

freemarketingbook.org and request a copy of Jonathan Jay's new book "Marketing Secrets of a Multi-Millionaire Entrepreneur"

Copyright SuccessTrack 2009

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Teleseminars: The Perfect Communication and Marketing Solution for the iPod Generation

With advances in technology, teleseminars are being used in ever more creative ways by individuals and companies to expand their client base and dramatically increase revenue.Part of the massive appeal of a teleseminar is that while it is possible to listen to event live, it can also be recorded and made available as a podcast that can be downloaded to an iPod and listened to at the convenience of the listener.

Podcasts can be ready in mere minutes after the completion of the live teleseminar.It is a question of how much editing you want to do.The fortunate thing is that Internet audiences tend to be more forgiving regarding teleseminars.They are hungry for great content rather than a studio quality recording.

Teleseminars are highly versatile.Regardless of the business you are in you can leverage the value of teleseminars.Just think of them as a means of delivering an audio message to your staff and or clients.Then decide what information you are going to share with them.

Some examples of the many uses of teleseminars include:

1.

Announcing Product launches,

2.

selling products,

3.

Publicising events,

4.

Promoting books,

5.

Training staff,

6.

Training affiliates, and

7.

Fundraising.

Plus, with teleseminars you have the benefit of being able to deliver your message to a global rather than local audience.

Podcasting is an ideal solution for long teleseminars.Jay Abraham and Alex Mandossian are examples of Internet marketers who sometimes host long teleseminars.It is a challenge for individuals to maintain focused concentration for hours on end, irrespective of how riveting the material is.Also, some people cannot afford to put their life on hold or take the time off work to listen to a live teleseminar that is over two hours or even over 4 hours long.However, if you save your teleseminar as a podcast that subscribers can download to their iPod, then people can listen to your material in bite-sized chunks.

And there is another advantage to podcasting your teleseminars.You can create a single podcast for the entire presentation or you can divide the teleseminar into segments.This can make it easier to download and easier to listen to especially if a presentation is over an hour.The teleseminar can be simply divided at logical or natural breaks in the presentation so that when played sequentially it flows seamlessly.

Alternatively, the podcasts can be branded separately and you can do a recap of the material in the former podcast so that each mini-podcast is a stand-alone product.This can then be used as a teaser especially if you want to sell the teleseminar rather than offer it as a free download.

Many presenters have products consisting of numerous CDs but they are relatively bulky and can become scratched.Avid learners soon start to run out of room to store the many programs they have purchased.Making your teleseminars available as downloadable as MP3 and MP4s which can be downloaded onto a device that can fit into the palm of your hand or your pocket saves space and makes your content easy to consume.

Nightingale Conant, the world's leading producer of personal development audio programs, now gives its customers the option of purchasing a CD version or an MP3 version.With the MP3s customers can download them to their iPod and be listening to life-enhancing material in minutes rather than waiting days for the program they ordered to arrive.And, in an age where 'speed to market' is becoming increasingly important; offering your material in MP3 format which your customers can immediately download to their iPod gives you a competitive advantage.

About the Author

Expert Tip: When selling high ticket items which include teleseminar recordings, offer them to your customers on a pre-loaded iPod.

Learn how you can become an expert teleseminar host and earn thousands of dollars.Click HEREto access FREE 2+hours special tele-training onhow to use teleseminars to grow your business.And for details on the most comprehensive teleseminar training available visit Successful Teleseminars.

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