Poor small business marketing is one of the major causes of early small business failure. Poor small business marketing not only fails to get new and loyal customers, it also wastes small business marketing resources. Three major reasons account for this waste.

1. Not investing in small business marketing research.
2. Not targeting the people most likely to become customers.
3. Not creating and following a small business marketing plan.

Small Business Marketing
Mistake 1: Not Investing In Small
Business Marketing Research

The first mistake is not investing in small business marketing research. Small business owners are reluctant to invest resources up front to conduct product development research, competition analysis, and market segmentation.

Without the information acquired from research, they often build their small business marketing on incomplete and inaccurate information. This dooms their marketing efforts from the beginning.

Furthermore, without research to guide their small business marketing decisions, business owners are less likely to approach marketing strategically and more likely to make individual disjointed marketing efforts that lack the focus required to win new and loyal customers.

Although small business marketing research is a cost that many small business owners are reluctant to pay, it’s a smart investment that saves wasting resources on marketing to the wrong people.

You can read about how other businesses are spending their marketing budgets at the page linked below:
On-line Marketing Services Gobble Up More Marketing Budgets

Small Business Marketing
Mistake 2: Not Targeting The People
Most Likely To Become Customers

Because business owners don’t do research, they often don’t know the best target market for their products and services. Because they don’t determine who is most likely to buy their products, they market to everybody. This is poor small business marketing.

Many small business owners believe that everybody will want to buy what they sell, but that is seldom the case. This mistake wastes resources marketing to people who will never buy. Not only that, but failing to target the people most likely to buy, may actually alienate those who would otherwise become loyal customers.

Spending a small amount of the small business marketing resources on target market research can save small business owners much more in wasted marketing efforts and expenses than the research costs.

Plus, target market research helps small business owners to:

• determine their best potential customers,
• learn all they can about their potential customers, and
• design their small business marketing campaigns to reach potential customers at least seven times within a year.

Target market research provides small business owners with information about:

• the people most likely to buy their products or services,
• the kinds of media that reach those people,
• their information needs and effective appeals to include in marketing messages,
• how much spending power they have and what price they will pay.

Such information when included in a small business marketing plan, can greatly improve return on investment for marketing resources.

Small Business Marketing
Mistake 3: Not Creating And Following
A Small Business Marketing Plan

The third mistake grows out of the lack of small business marketing research. When small business owners don’t do the research necessary to thoroughly understand what and how marketing strategies should be implemented, they lack focus and easily fall prey to sales people.

Some small business owners believe that the only reason to complete a business plan is because banks require them for business loans. They fail to recognize the value of a business plan to guide their business, much less a small business marketing plan to guide their marketing.

Thus, they fail to plan marketing strategies and investments that produce the greatest return on investment (marketing ROI). Because they haven’t planned what small business marketing strategies will best lead to their marketing goals, they fall vulnerable to sales people.

Many sales people play on the small business owner’s lack of marketing planning in order to sell marketing and advertising that do not move the business closer to its goals. A well-developed small business marketing plan is the best defense against sales people who will waste the business owners marketing resources in order to meet their own sales goals.

Some mass media sales people approach new business owners, convincing them to buy advertisements that primarily reach the wrong people, and sometimes reach few people because of the time or placement of the advertisement.

Other sales people often convince small business owners to spend on various marketing products and services that scatter marketing resources to the point that the marketing wouldn’t be effective even if it was targeted to the best potential customers, which usually they’re not.

You’ll better use your marketing resources with Business BootCAMP. It reveals time-tested inexpensive solutions to 30+ areas that cause all people to lose money. It also provides a 60-day intensive business marketing plan and hints about recession-proofing your business.

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Originally Submitted to Article Directories:
Three Mistakes That Waste
Small Business Marketing Resources

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.