40 Marketing Mistakes Companies Make

There was a rich discussion recently among members of the Marketing Executives Group on Linked In. The topic of debate was Top Marketing Mistakes.

Each company should periodically step back and take a look at their marketing activities. The following list can be utilized as a checklist for activities that should be stopped. Let’s see how many of these mistakes you have avoided.  In no particular order are 40 mistakes.

1. Not having a game plan.
2. Not having an organized system in place.
3. Not having a refined market.
4. Not having a refined marketing message.
5. Being passive, not proactive in your marketing.
6. Believing the media hype that “times are tough” and that you should cut back.
7. Lack of customer insights.
8. Lack of product differentiation, only “me too” thinking.
9. Lack of TIM:  Targeting, Integrating, and Measuring of activities.
10. Lack of handling the budget effectively (no cost control, no RFQs, product runovers, no plan versus actual).
11. Not looking outside the building to see what competitors have.
12. Not spending the time to understand your customers and what they need.
13. Not thinking big enough.
14. Not being human.
15. Not using common sense.
16. Not creating the right positioning and value propositions based on customer needs and differentiators.
17. Not linking all marketing actions and efforts through the same message and objectives.
18. Forgetting to focus on quality branding.
19. Not conducting intelligent and strategic marketing prior to any tactical and operational marketing.
20. Failing to evaluate and redirect efforts/resources when it makes sense.
21. Getting caught in a rut, not looking for new opportunities to creatively get out your message.
22. Being enslaved by our own fascination of jargon and how jargon or certain fads will help solve the next marketing riddle.
23. Not identifying the most profitable market.
24. Not fully understanding the tangible and intangible needs of your target markets.
25. Lack of relevant differentiation strategy from either a physical product standpoint or emotional benefit.
26. Weak messaging that does not effectively convey product differentiation.
27. Not knowing the business you are marketing.
28. Not understanding the right metrics. ROI is important, but it is not all about ROI.
29. Overpromising what marketing can do. In most businesses, personal relationships will be required to close the sale.
30. Re-inventing the wheel instead of using proven methods, plans and initiatives.
31. Copying another company that runs successful marketing campaigns.
32. Trying to outdo a competitor, but without proper planning.
33. Applying scattergun approach.
34. Not measuring results.
35. Company functions are in silos that do not talk. Therefore, the message is muddled.
36. Not having a consistent system in place.
37. Failing to integrate marketing with sales efforts.
38. Failing to target repeat business.
39. Not minding the 3A’s: Availability, Affordability and Acceptability.
40. Not building the brand image.

The Takeaway

We all strive to improve our marketing programs each year. Critically examine each of the techniques to ensure the foundation is solid.

Those are the items in the list. What do you think? Please comment below.

• How often do you examine your marketing programs’ efficiency?
• What else can you add to the list?
• How do you validate your marketing approach(es)?

Copyright © 2010 Rob Berman