What?!? Sabotage your own success? Who would do that? Well, you'd be surprised how many small business owners think they are effectively marketing their business, when in fact they are cutting their own throat. Yes, they may be running ads that are pulling in leads or customers. And yes, they may be writing a regular column for their local newspaper so they are perceived as
expert in their industry. And yes, they may even be doing a pretty good job of marketing on a regular basis to their prospect list.
So if they are doing all of these things "right," how are they sabotaging their success? Well there are lots of ways. Following are just a few of ways small business owners unknowingly sabotage their own success.
(1) They have not taken time to develop a marketing plan.
A plan focuses your efforts and allows you to make most of your marketing budget. Unfortunately, you can market without a plan. Yes, you read that right. You can do it, and people do market without marketing plans everyday.
But that does not mean you should. To make most of your marketing efforts and budget, make sure you take time each year to create a plan.
(2) They don’t have written goals
Smart business owners have written goals and objectives for what they want to achieve with their business and for each of their marketing activities. I know this sounds b-o-r-i-n-g, but it's a fact.
There is proof that people who put their goals into writing have a higher success rate than those who do not. Plus, how can you develop a plan if you don't have concrete objectives? You need a clear vision and target to aim for. You can't possibly determine what marketing or how much marketing you need if you don't know what you are aiming for.
(3)They have a short-term attitude.
They are reactive in nature, and while on surface it appears they are doing a lot of marketing, they are not doing anything consistently or long enough to make an impact. Running an ad or sending out your newsletter a few times and giving up when you don't get immediate results is worse than doing nothing at all.
How so? Because at least when you do nothing it doesn't cost you any money. Pulling plug too soon costs you money. And statistics show it takes somewhere between three and 10 exposures to a message for average consumer to notice it and take action. So it is quite possible your audience was just beginning to take notice right about time you threw in towel!
(4) They don't know their USP.
Probably worst way business owners sabotage their marketing efforts without even realizing it, is to NOT have a clear Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
