Marketing: Fundamental Strategic Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Fundamental Strategic Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Written by Lee Traupel

This is a pretty tough global economy and it is critical for a company to leverage every bit of their marketing resources. So, if this is repparttar

case, why are so many companies shooting themselves in repparttar 121207

proverbial foot by breaking some of repparttar 121208

most fundamental rules of marketing? It's a very simple question with complex answers - here are some of repparttar 121209

pitfalls to avoid:

1) Believing a second rate web site communicates integrity: So many web sites are just plain funky looking (graphics, text, menus, etc.) - nice professional term, but it's descriptive of some of repparttar 121210 dreck that passes for web site design. A company should not forget that perception is reality on repparttar 121211 web and people aren't going to do business with a company that can't field a decent web site - end of story!

2) Deploying a marketing strategy that's all over repparttar 121212 map: Is Yahoo a Search Engine, a Portal or a Hollywood Media company? They are repparttar 121213 classic 3D hologram advertisement for a company that can't figure out what it wants to be when it grows up. A company must pick a marketing strategy and then stay repparttar 121214 course - changing direction every time repparttar 121215 wind shifts is not a good business strategy and creates more motion than action.

3) Forgetting real brand development: Branding became repparttar 121216 ".com" rallying cry for every newby wet behind repparttar 121217 ears with an Internet dream to become a billionaire by selling dog food on repparttar 121218 web (I'll leave repparttar 121219 sock puppet out of this) - we all know this didn't work. But that does not mean a company should ignore brand development - it's important to remember that a good brand is built one marketing process at a time; everything that a company publishes, develops or communicate is part of repparttar 121220 brand building process, which in turn defines repparttar 121221 company's market position.

4) Ignoring distribution channels by selling direct via an ecommerce web site: A company should not build and launch an ecommerce site and start selling direct to customers and forget about a distribution channel. It's imperative to give repparttar 121222 customer repparttar 121223 choice to buy direct from your company or locate a distribution channel partner via a look up capability on repparttar 121224 site. And, if you really want to win repparttar 121225 hearts and mind of a channel never sell below retail (SRP) - and afford repparttar 121226 channel repparttar 121227 opportunity to discount your product so they can compete effectively with you.

If Your Sales Need A Shot Of Adrenaline -- Maybe Your Easy Street Needs a Bump

Written by Hal Archer

All of us get complacent. Sales are going along at a nice pace, so we forget some of repparttar

things that got us to easy street.

Some times it takes a bump or two on that street to get us back on keel. I know that's what happened to me a while back. Sales started to slide and I couldn't see why.

Then I sat down and went through repparttar 121206 memory book. I tried to figure out what I was doing wrong. I thought of this possibility and that possibility.

Then it came to me. It wasn't what I was doing wrong -- It was what I wasn't doing at all!

I thought back to when I was starting out, what did I do? It all started coming back to me. I wasn't promoting. I was just drifting.

The main thing I realized I had let fall by repparttar 121207 way side was repparttar 121208 sizzle. How did I used to make it sizzle? Several ways - let's look at a few:

1. Use repparttar 121209 2 for 1 deal. If a customer bought one item they could pick another item at repparttar 121210 same or lower price at no charge.

2. Give a 15% discount on orders of $100 or more.

3. Group products so they could pick any one of them for $5.

4. Run holiday specials. Everything on repparttar 121211 web site 50% off on certain holidays.

5. If it was a high ticket offer, I'd let repparttar 121212 customers use a payment plan - pay for it in three easy payments.

6. Offer a bonus coupon when they bought a product. The coupon would be toward repparttar 121213 purchase of another product I sold.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>