Common
Sense Needed To Avoid Common Mistakes
By
David P. Kowal, APR
When
it comes to marketing, common sense isn't all that common.
The same easily avoided mistakes seem to be made repeatedly.
The offenders come from many different industries, from
companies that are large and small, and from throughout the
country. Many of the following 20 mistakes are even made by
communications professionals (excluding the author, of
course):
1.
Printing insufficient quantities of brochures. The added
cost to print, for example, 10,000 brochures instead of
5,000 brochures is relatively small, yet many companies will
go with the lower quantity to save money - even after
spending 10s of thousands of dollars on four-color printing.
Then, when quantities are low, companies horde their
brochures, which defeats the purpose of having them in the
first place.
2.
Developing brochures without determining how they will be
used. When a brochure sits on a shelf, it doesn't help a
company market itself.
3.
Spreading a small advertising budget over too many different
media. It is much better to appear regularly in a small
number of publications with a large enough ad to attract
attention than it is to appear in many publications
infrequently and with small
ads.
4.
Failing to give advertising time to work. Many companies run
an ad once in one publication, then, if it fails to bring in
a sufficient amount of business, they move it to another
publication, then another and another and another. The
impact of advertising is cumulative. It is better to stay in
a high-quality, well-targeted publication for at least six
months than it is to move advertising around from
publication to publication.
5.
Missing publishing deadlines. Failing to return calls from
reporters in time to meet their deadlines, or handing in
articles after deadline is a bad practice for a
publicity-seeking company. No matter how important you may
think your news is, it is not important enough to hold up
publication. If you don't provide news to an editor on time,
your competitors will.
6.
Telling an editor you're an important advertiser, so he or
she had better run your story. This is a sure-fire way to be
the subject of the next "Investigative
Spotlight."
7.
Telling a reporter something is "Off the record" after
you've already said it.
8.
Demanding that a reporter submit whatever is written to you
for approval before it is
published.
9.
Using publicity photos taken by your administrative
assistant. Your administrative assistant if probably very
talented, but if you want your company to look professional,
use a professional
photographer.
10.
Renting space at a trade show without having anything to
show. You probably wouldn't buy ad space without anything to
advertise, so why rent space at a trade show if you don't
have a booth, good graphics and a product to
promote?
11.
Going to a trade show without scheduling appointments ahead
of time.
12.
Using outdated mailing lists for your direct mail. A direct
mail campaign is only as good as its mailing list. If you
have an in-house database, update it regularly. If you rent
lists, make certain you're getting back any nixes. Just
because a mail house promises that its lists are updated
continuously doesn't mean the list is
accurate.
13.
Failing to research your market, because you think you know
what your customer needs and
wants.
14.
Failing to ask former customers why they stopped doing
business with you; and failing to contact them at a later
date to see if they want to do business with you
again.
15.
Allowing someone who doesn't give a damn about your business
to answer the phone.
16.
Going after new customers without paying sufficient
attention to your existing
customers.
17.
Forgetting to cross sell to your existing customers. Your
existing customers are more likely to give you additional
business than anyone else.
18.
Failing to ask your customers for
referrals.
19.
Using a logo that looks like it was designed before World
War I. Even Betty Crocker gets a face lift when she needs
one.
20.
Trying to fill every bit of space in an ad with copy. You
can't sell every product and every service to every audience
all at the same time.
David P. Kowal is President of Kowal Communications, Inc. of Northboro, Mass. He can be reached at kowal@kowal.com.
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