Like all areas of business and life there are loads of myths around that can lead you into places you do not want to be.

Marketing, especially today seems to have its share of what you should do in order to be successful and unfortunately many are just myths.

Here are 6 myths that I think you should ignore:

Set your marketing objectives without setting your sales objectives

For some reason people think that the two are not aligned and often go off and plan what they want to do with their marketing activities and not think about the sales affect.

They have to match up as your marketing objectives actually define what is required of your target market to achieve your sales objectives. So set your sales objectives first then look at your marketing objectives.

It is best to target a niche that no one else is

Okay I will call this a half myth, because you can if you absolutely know that there is demand, which in most cases unless you do solid research you can’t be sure. When marketing your products and services this is the tough way to go, because you have to do all the heavy work alone.

It is far easier to enter a market that already has competitors, not too many mind you as it means that customers are already buying similar products or services so you know there is demand.

You need to do at least 8 marketing tactics to succeed

Not sure where this came from but it is a myth as the number of tactics depends on what you want to achieve, your marketing strategy and your time and/or marketing budget. Unfortunately there is no magic number.

Always take action on customer feedback

You can listen to them and then you need to consider the implications for your brand. Sometimes customers say one thing and actually mean something else. You should not just take what feedback they give literally as it can lead to wrong marketing decisions.

You need to be an expert

I think you need expertise which comes from your skills and experience but you do not need to be an expert. It is a myth that unless you call yourself an expert you can’t succeed. Also just think how confusing it is for potential customers when confronted with 20 people all saying they are the expert in the market.

You should just focus on your own race

I have often heard that you should ignore competitors which is not true. You should not concentrate on them but the reality is they are in competition with you for customers so you do need to keep tabs on what they are doing.

Over to you and please share any other marketing myths you have heard or read about.

When marketing your brand being seen and heard is one part of the chain that is needed for success, although at times this can be easier said than done.

Starting out you have the time to keep up your appearances and make sure your potential customers are aware of your brand.

However, when you get a lot of work it becomes more difficult to do, especially when all of a sudden you are swamped with work.

What can happen is you drop out of sight or you cut back on the number of times your brand or you appear. Initially you may think it doesn’t matter however over time it can affect your business.

A cliché, but true – out of sight, out of mind.

There are no black and white answers to maintaining the awareness and presence of your brand, however to kick off the discussions here are a few suggestions:

Be where you customers are

This is obvious and the key is actually knowing where your customers hang out and when. Find out, don’t guess and just hope they may turn up. It is likely they are also under time pressure and you will find that they frequent certain places online and offline more often than others and at certain times.

Frequent only a few places

Once you find where they are make sure you turn up on a regular basis and not just do guest appearances in many places at different times.

Work out what you can commit to on a regular basis

The best way is to actually think of how much time if you are very busy you can spare to have a presence. This also relates to sending out newsletters or doing blog posts etc. Think of the minimum commitment you need to maintain your presence and ensure it happens. Technology can help with this area.

Don’t keep adding new marketing tactics

Once you have made a decision as to where and how often you are going to keep up your marketing appearances then don’t just add another to the mix. Make a judgement call if you need to on what you are going to drop.

Large companies know you need to keep up the awareness and presence of brands  if you want to be chosen by customers. In small business the same thing applies because if you don’t then competitors are likely to replace your brand in the minds of your customers.

As there are no definitive answers how do you juggle work and keeping the awareness and presence of your brand high in the minds of your customers?

Each day is seems there is a new rule being applied to marketing. Whether it is giving things away free, how to engage in social media, content etc.

What is not often written about is applying the good old fashioned commonsense approach.

According to the Webster dictionary the definition of commonsense is:

Sound and prudent judgement based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.

The Oxford Dictionary definition is – Good sense and sound judgement in practical matters

If you think about it, this approach has lasted through the decades and has served businesses and their customers well. Of course this doesn’t mean you do not have to be creative in your marketing because you do. The same goes for implementing your activities well.

So here are a few basic examples where using your commonsense can help with your marketing:

• Find out if the market is viable before launching your brand
• Work out what action you want your customers to take before implementing marketing strategies or tactics
• Have a budget for time spent on marketing activities and tools, especially the free ones
• Raise your prices if your costs have increased
• Find out your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses so you can defend against their strengths and capitalise on their weaknesses
• Have a plan so you know what you want to achieve, how you will achieve it and deadline to achieve
• Find out where your customers hang out so you can have a presence
• Partner up with other business to share the load and learn from each other
• Never think you know it all as customers’ attitudes and behaviours can change
• Don’t just blindly follow what others say is the new way of marketing as it may not apply to your business or customers

Over to you. What are your thoughts and how do you use the commonsense approach when making decisions about marketing your products or services?

When you are not getting the results you want it is tempting to throw out the marketing tactic you are actioning and jumped to another.

Often this can be on “gut feel” or even an unrealistic expectation of what could be achieved.

One benefit of being in small business is that you can make quick decisions and change one marketing tactic for another. The downside is often this decision is not thought through or it is based on the flavour of the month.

Jumping from one to another actually makes your marketing more complex instead of simpler, not to mention the time and/or money it takes.

To take any confusion out of the decision here are a few questions to ask yourself before you dump what you are currently doing for another tactic:

Why did you choose the marketing tactic in the first place?

This means you need to be able to know what the basis of the decision was. Certain marketing tactics are good for getting customers, others for keeping customers and some are ideal for expanding what your customers buy from you. It could be you just chose the wrong one for the job.

What results did you expect?

This is an easy one to answer if you set some objectives which can be measured and timing for the objectives to be met. If you haven’t set the objectives it is difficult to make the decision to dump the tactic.

Did you track the results?

Tracking the results leaves out the guesswork and gut feel and makes the decision to keep or throw it out easier.

Did you implement according to plan?

Sometimes the choosing of the tactic is fine but the execution can let you down. If this is the case then it may just need a little tweaking to ensure it get results next time.

 It could also be that you didn’t have the sufficient time and/or money to execute the marketing tactic as you planned.

What would you choose instead?

Would you select another tactic or just have one less in your mix. You need to be clear on the reasons for selecting another as you do not want to be in the same position again.

I should mention that the other side to this of just continue using a marketing tactic that is not getting the results. If you continue actioning the wrong tactic and not making changes or removing it and expect something better to happen it will not.

What are your thoughts on this and what other questions would you add to the list?

Promotions have been used offline for years as a marketing tactic and increasingly you are now seeing them appear as online tactics.

Two reasons to use promotions online or offline are:

Retain existing customers by providing additional value to their purchase

Expand on existing customers by providing an incentive to purchase more of your product or service (up sell) or purchase a different product or service in your range (cross sell)

 There are many types of promotions you can implement, so here are a few of the common ones:

Price Discounts

A common type of promotion is discounting the price of your product or service for a limited period of time.

If you discount your price, you need to determine how much additional volume needs to be sold to cover the loss in revenue as a result of the discount.

Multiple Purchase Discounts

Another way of encouraging customers to buy more is to offer a discount if a customer purchases a certain quantity of your product. For example, buy 3 bottles of soft drink for $4.00 and save 80 cents. Multiple purchase discounts not only offer a saving for the customer and additional sales for your business, they assist in blocking out the competition for a period of time.

Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes or games of chance enable a customer to enter a competition where they go into the draw to win a specific prize determined by your business. Find out what your target market likes what their interests and behaviour are and then decide on your prize.

Contests

A contest is a game of skill rather than a game of chance and it is at the discretion of your business to decide who wins eg. colouring contest or “in 25 words or less..”.

Government laws are different for contests as opposed to sweepstake promotions so make sure you check the regulations.

Value Adds

A value add is when you provide a reward to your customers for purchasing your products or services. Value adds are often used to increase the average transaction value of a customer i.e. encourage them to buy more to receive the reward.

Premiums

A premium is a product you give away to your customers that includes your business logo or marketing message eg. mouse pads, caps, t-shirts, calendars etc. Premiums can increase awareness of your brand or business or act as a reminder for existing customers.

Coupons

Coupons can be used to communicate your promotional offer to your target market. More importantly, coupons provide a simple way to track the success of your promotion.

When developing a promotion that involves a coupon, you need to consider the following:

Who should receive the coupon, how will the coupon be distributed, what do you want the coupon to do and what does the coupon need to communicate eg. conditions.

Cross Sell and Up Sell

The objective of a cross sell promotion is to increase the average transaction value of your customer by encouraging them to purchase more than one product or service in your range.

Up sell promotions encourage customers to purchase more of the same product or service.

Bonus Packs and Multipacks

Bonus packs offer more of your product for the same price as the original size. For example, receive 500mls of shampoo for 375ml price.

Multipacks are the grouping of like products together to encourage customers to buy more. They are sometimes offered at a discounted price as opposed to buying each product individually.

What do you think of using promotions in your business?

I don’t know about you, but it seems every day there is a new tool that can be used in marketing your brand. Just today I read that Twitter is launching its own button.

Have you ever thought just how long it would take to search for each one and review them to see if they can be of benefit?

Luckily there is a great resource on Small Business Trends and the editor for the product reviews is TJ McCue of SalesRescueTeam.com The reviews cover a large range of products for small business and I can say that TJ has saved me a lot of time with his comprehensive and objective reports.

Here are a few of the reviews that you may find interesting:

E-Commerce

BigCommerce Review: Building a Small Business Online Storefront

49 E-Commerce & Shopping Carts for Small Business

Email

30 Useful Small Business Email Marketing Apps

Video

Small Business Video Editing: Pinnacle Studio 14 Review

Mobile

Fanminder Mobile: Mobile Marketing Solutions for SMBs

Social Media

7 Twitter for Business Tools for Monitoring, Listening and Tracking

Webinar

26 Webinar Tools for Small Business

 These are just a sample of the reviews and if you have ever wanted to know what tools there are to measure social media check out 195 Social Media Measurement Tools & Technologies which TJ complied.

Happy reading.