Five Marketing Mistakes That Small And Medium-sized Companies Make (And How To Prevent Them)

  • 3 minute read

Do you own a small or medium-sized company? Check out the top 5 marketing mistakes small and medium-sized companies make and how to avoid them.

Marketing, which is the process of exploring, making, and delivering value to meet the target market’s needs in terms of goods and services includes the following;

·        Selection of a target audience

·        Selection of certain attributes or themes to stress on in advertising

·        Operation of advertising campaigns

·        Attending trade shows and public events

·        Designing products and package to attract buyers

·        Defining the terms of sale, such as cost, discounts, guarantee, and return policy

·        Placement of products in media or with people believed to influence the buying habits of others

·        Having agreements with retailers, wholesale distributors, or resellers

·        Attempts to create awareness of and positive feelings about a brand

·        And lots more.

Marketers can direct their product to other businesses (Business-2-Business marketing) or directly to consumers (Business-2-Consumers marketing).

So, let’s jump in and see five (5) marketing mistakes small and medium sized companies make and how to prevent them.

Here they are:

1. Lack Of Research And Testing:

If there’s one thing that makes so many businesses fail in the market place, it’s the lack of in-depth research and testing.

Because this activity is very boring, a lot of businesses skip it and just go ahead and create marketing campaigns without understanding their market at all.

Market research and testing saves time and money because you can easily predict how your products and promotions will perform before you launch a single campaign.

They give you a picture of how the public will react to your marketing campaigns, which can help you discover ineffective or unpopular ideas before you go the entire length of implementing them and getting nothing back in return.

“For you to fully understand how consumers will respond to your marketing efforts, develop different offers, prices, packages, and promotions, then see how potential customers react to each of them.”

2. Improper Focus And Positioning: Brand positioning is a significant part of creating a space for your company and making it stand out from other companies. Strategic market positioning creates momentum, which simply means that each time you market a new product or service, you are developing the previous product.

But many companies market single products without giving much thought about how their overall brand is perceived. They then have to start all over again with each marketing campaign, which consumes time, money, and effort.

Avoid this common marketing mistake by using positioning strategies to influence how customers compare you to other marketers.

3. Marketing Without USP: USP simply means “Unique Selling Proposition”, the single statement that makes you stand out from the competition. It shows how important your product directly address the needs of consumers in a way that no other product does.

Customers have a lot of marketing messages seeking their attention.

If you don’t present them with a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that actually captures their attention and solves their problem, your business is likely to get lost in the noise.

4. Failing To Capture Repeat Customers: Focusing more on attracting new customers, and missing the revenue created by repeat business is a common mistake marketers make.

To get new customers is important, but it isn’t nearly as profitable as marketing to previous customers.

On average, selling to a new customer is five times as expensive as selling to a known customer.

5. Lack Of Focus On Potential Customers’ Needs: The secret to avoiding this common mistake is simple, but not easy: find a customers need that you can fill, then fill that need better than your competitors.

You’ll need to do some research and testing to understand those needs.

Once you know what customers really want, you can create a profitable Unique Selling Proposition (USP), which will position your brand within the overall market.

And with a complete understanding of what your customers need and want, you’ll have no problem attracting existing buyers.

Conclusion

Even with excellent planning, marketing mistakes can occur.

If a marketing plan does not generate the response you want, take your time to reflect on what might have gone wrong and how you can improve yourself in the future.