Getting your marketing right can be tricky, and people are often quick to judge if you don't quite hit the mark. There are three major marketing mistakes you need to avoid in order to succeed.
Marketing can be a tricky business and very easy to get wrong. In the best-case scenario, poor marketing can make you something of a laughing stock. In the worst-case scenario, it leads to sales plummeting and, worse still, may cause offence and alienate people from your brand. Here are three major mistakes you must avoid at all costs.
Firstly, failing to test your target market. Market research helps you get a feel for how your products and promotions are going to be received by potential customers. If you don't ask them what they think before you launch, you're taking a very big risk and it's almost inevitably going to backfire.
Secondly, developing products and marketing which don't fit with your brand identity. Here's a prime example. Everyone associates Colgate with toothpaste and dental care. Back in the 80s, the company decided to diversify and inexplicably chose to produce ready meals, complete with packaging bearing the instantly-recognisable Colgate logo. Nobody wanted to see their toothpaste branding on their dinner, and the range failed. The products you market have to feel relevant to what you already sell and stand for.
Finally, not having a unique selling point, or USP. This lets customers know the benefits of your product, what it provides which no other product does. Customers are bombarded by marketing material, so if you don't shout about your USP, then you'll just be drowned out by competitors.
Avoid these three major mistakes, because it's hard to come back from a big marketing error. Instead ensure your marketing has been well-researched, is relevant and unique.
Not testing your target market
Developing products which don't fit the brand
Not having a USP
