This is the 11th blog in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  Here at MetaMorph Strategies we came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small business owners today.  We’re profiling them on our blog so that we can provide businesses with the tools to go to the next level. 

The 11th Biggest Marketing Mistake is: Not Using a Professional

Business owners are almost always looking for ways to spend more efficiently.  It can be very tempting to ask someone who does graphics on the side to design your logo and business cards.  You might even think about having someone design your website who says that they know a little about HTML code and they can probably pull something together for you. 

Is this cheaper than going with a professional?  No.  The chances are good that in the end, you’ll have to hire a professional to redo the work anyway.

Remember that your business cards, your letterhead, and your website are all marketing tools.  They each say something about you.  Having a website is a great start.  Having one that is designed in such a way as to grow your business by attracting online traffic is much, much better.

Don’t settle for just getting the job done.  Take your business as far as it can go by utilizing marketing, design, and search engine optimizing experts to build your brand.

This is the 10th blog in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  Here at MetaMorph Strategies we came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small business owners today.  We’re profiling them on our blog so that we can provide businesses with the tools to go to the next level. 

The 10th Biggest Marketing Mistake is: Designing a Website that Looks Great But That No One Can Use.

No business owner wants to throw money away.  But many well-meaning people spend thousands of dollars on websites that are difficult to navigate and that ultimately frustrate their potential customers. 

Every website has competition.  There are over 182 million websites on the web and that number grows by more than 1 million every month.  Of course all of these websites reflect a variety of businesses, industries, personal websites and more.  But it can’t be denied that almost every business on the planet has some form of online competition.  The odds are that by the time a consumer has found your site, they’ve already visited other similar sites. 

Yes, you want a website that will stand out.  Just be sure that you stand out for the right reasons. 

One of the most important things you should consider about your website is whether or not it’s intuitive.  Does navigating your website require a special understanding of the way that your particular site is designed or does it reflect a fairly standard, simple web layout?  Of course you don’t want to design a cookie cutter website. But you probably don’t want to use your website to reinvent web design, unless of course, that’s what you’re selling.

Will people be able to figure out where things are?  So often, web designers want to think outside of the box.  But sometimes people want to quickly jump on your website to look at the ingredients of your chicken salad or to get directions to your business or to find out if you handle their type of legal issue.  Many of today’s consumers are impatient.  If they have to trudge around your website hunting for information, they will most likely head back to their search results and find another listing. 

With this in mind, organize the content in a way that is logical and reflects the standards for websites within your industry.  For examples restaurants should have links to their menu, their location, and nutritional information if possible.

Each page should reflect a similar template.  You don’t want customers feeling like they’ve gone to a new website each time they click on a new page within your website.  Consider including a search link for the truly impatient visitors.

Every page should include an easy way to get home.  Many websites, like the one here at MetaMorph Strategies, will include the company logo in the same spot on every page.  The logo is actually a link back to the homepage.  This way, if someone gets deep into your website, but then just wants to start fresh, they aren’t 20 back clicks away from the homepage. 

There are a whole host of things to consider when creating user friendly websites.  We’ll discuss more of them here in the blog space in the future.  Remember that your website is first about clients and second about your company.  Make sure that you don’t organize your website in a way that makes it difficult to navigate.  Put your client needs first, even in your web design.

This is the 9th blog in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  Here at MetaMorph Strategies we came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small business owners today.  We’re profiling them on our blog so that we can provide businesses with the tools to go to the next level. 

The 9th Biggest Marketing Mistake is: Relying Too Much on Interruption Based Marketing as Opposed to Permission Based Marketing.

Let’s face it, today’s consumers are inundated with advertisements.  Strategically placed ads can be found everywhere from the billboards inside race car video games to drinking straws to manhole covers.  Even at home, consumers receive sales calls and mailed advertisements.  As a result of this advertising onslaught, consumers have gotten savvy and somewhat disengaged.

More and more people are either opting out of traditional marketing models, or they’re simply ignoring them.  Companies like TIVO and XM Radio have given consumers ways to enjoy their favorite TV shows and radio programs without interruption. 

Most traditional forms of advertising rely on interrupting the consumer to get their attention.  A television ad interrupts a favorite show, a radio commercial interrupts the flow of music, and even print ads interrupt articles.    Traditional marketing relies on the idea that consumers don’t know what they were missing.  Advertising executives seek to get a consumer’s attention in order to explain to them why they would really benefit from using this or that product.

Well, today’s consumers aren’t falling for it.  They know what they want and what they need and they aren’t interested in being bombarded by messages that simply don’t interest them.  So, how do companies reach consumers who may not want to be reached?  The answer is permission based marketing.  Many of today’s tech savvy consumers only watch commercials, listen to or read advertisements for things that they already know they’re interested in. 

The important thing to realize is that consumers are interested in learning about products that really matter to them.  The key for today’s businesses is to identify their true demographic, and then to ask permission to advertise to them.

A founding principle of permission based marketing is that you must provide consumers with useful and interesting information.  If you are truly connecting with your target demographic, then this should not be difficult to achieve.  One of the most effective forms of permission based marketing is the opt-in email marketing campaign.  The basic idea is that you 1) create a newsletter that provides information that would be useful to your target demographic and then, 2) you use just enough interruption marketing to invite consumers to receive your newsletter and then 3) you send out timely, useful content that includes, but is not dominated by, ways to use your product.

Permission based marketing is simple and it allows you to build relationships with potential customers on their terms.  For more information on how you can start a permission marketing campaign within your organization, give us a call. 

This is the 8th blog in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  Here at MetaMorph Strategies we came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small business owners today.  We’re profiling them on our blog so that we can provide businesses with the tools to grow their businesses. 

The 8th Biggest Marketing Mistake is: Using Instincts Instead of Marketing Research and Analysis to Make Critical Decisions.  

All across the country, entrepreneurs are building small businesses.  Most small businesses are started by individuals who have a specific expertise.  For example, a chef may start her own restaurant or an insurance salesman may start his own company.  In many cases, people go from being employees to business owners overnight.

The problem here is that running a business requires a very specific set of skills.  One of the most critical skills required to build a successful business is the ability to market it.  While this may be a hard truth to swallow, being an excellent chef, being great at sales, and even being very likeable, does not automatically qualify a person to be an excellent marketer of their business. 

Marketing is a fundamental aspect of any successful business.  It is not just about advertising.  Marketing also includes public relations, branding, pricing, sizing up the competition, networking, and more.

The great thing about marketing research and analysis is that there are many ways to determine the best course of action to take in almost any given situation.  Marketing research can look at a wide variety of things like the way that certain technological advances can impact your business and your products or how best to differentiate yourself from the competition.  Certain types of marketing research can help you to determine the best way to advertise your products.  You can look closely at consumer patterns and trends to determine the best way to brand your company.

Instincts are an important part of business and they do have their place in decision making.  But unless your office door says “marketing guru” you might want to consider marketing research and analysis to help make some of the major marketing decisions for your business. 

This is the 7th blog in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  Here at MetaMorph Strategies we came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small business owners today.  We’re profiling them on our blog so that we can provide people with the information they need to make the best decisions for their businesses. 

The 7th Biggest Marketing Mistake is: Not Taking Advantage of Low Cost Ways to Market Your Business. 

One of the most important elements of any marketing strategy is money.  Many small business owners feel frustrated by their inability to compete with companies that seem to have endless amounts of cash to spend on marketing.  Nevertheless, there are a myriad of ways for small businesses to compete in the marketing arena. 

A great way to maintain and cultivate relationships with your client base is to use e-newsletters.  E-newsletters are simply newsletters that are sent via the Internet to the email accounts of your prospects, current clients, referral sources, and anyone else who you’d like to stay in touch with.  You can use your e-newsletter to share company news and to provide helpful hints about your products and your industry.  The great thing about e-newsletters is that, once they’re set up, you don’t need to do any formatting to send them out.  If you’d like to see an example of quality e-newsletter, sign up for the one that we send out each month.

Cultivate relationships with people in the media by positioning yourself as an expert in your field.  Most journalists have a specific beat.  In other words, they primarily write about certain industries or areas.  Find out which journalists are writing about your industry and introduce yourself to them.  Ask if you can add them to your monthly e-newsletter mailings.  There’s a good chance that when they need a quote from an expert in your industry, they’ll think of you.  If you’ve been sending them your e-newsletters then they’ll have your contact information at their fingertips.  Getting quoted in statewide or national print publications is a great way to get free advertising for your business.

An underrated and underused form of marketing is networking.  People really are the best form of advertising around.  No matter what industry you’re in, building a powerful network of influential contacts and referral sources should be an integral part of your marketing plan.  Go to local networking meetings.  Volunteering your time at local nonprofits is a great way to meet the movers and shakers in your community. 

When you meet people who are smart and are rising in their given fields, get to know them.  Work to build quality relationships within your local business community.  If you’re just reaching out to people because you want to get something from them, they’ll be able to tell.  The most effective networking is building business relationships that you actually enjoy.

One of the most important things that companies can do to maximize their exposure, while watching their bottom line is search engine marketing.  Search engine marketing provides several low cost ways to get the word out about your company.  It can allow you to connect with and also to cultivate important prospects.  In some industries, search engine marketing is even more effective than traditional forms of advertising.  If that wasn’t enough, search engine marketing can cost a fraction of a well placed television advertisement.

Search engine marketing refers to any and all activities that increase a business’ rankings and visibility on the search engines.  This includes pay-per-click advertising, search optimization, social networking, blogging, having quality links that drive traffic to your website and much more. 

More and more businesses are realizing that their websites are not simply for letting clients find their contact information online.  Using your website to grow your business is a low cost, effective way to stretch your marketing dollars.  

Because we here at MetaMorph Strategies feel so strongly about the search engine marketing revolution, our own CEO Mona Moore will be conducting a class about search engine marketing through the Arizona Small Business Association.

Mona’s workshop is called “Search Engine Marketing (SEM) What Does It Mean and What Are Your Options?”.  It will take place on Thursday, December 4, 2009 from 9:00 – 11:00 am at 4130 E. Van Buren St., Suite 150.

For details on how to register, please visit the Arizona Small Business Association’s website. 

Marketing your business really is not an option, it’s a necessity.  As tempting as it may be, don’t focus on what you can’t do because of a small marketing budget.  Instead, realize all that you can do.  A multi-faceted marketing strategy is within your reach. 

This is the 6th blog in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  Here at MetaMorph Strategies we came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small businesses today.  We’re profiling the mistakes on our blog so that we can provide business owners with the information they need to make critical decisions about their marketing campaigns. 

The 6th Biggest Marketing Mistake is: Advertising Without a Call to Action.  

First let’s define what a call to action is.  It’s an element of your marketing campaign that’s designed to get consumers to act sooner rather than later.

Have you ever seen those late night commercials that say if you call within the next 10 minutes you get a set of steak knives for free?  Those companies know that even if someone really wants to buy their product, if they don’t take action now, then they may forget, or lose the phone number, or simply not recall why they wanted to buy the product in the first place.  Placing some sort of limit on a special may be all that you need to improve the number of responses you get from your advertising.

This concept is not only for businesses that sell tangible products.  Businesses that provide services like consulting, should also be including a call to action in their marketing materials.  This can include a one hour free consultation for anyone who calls by a certain date.  You can simply state that you’re raising prices after the new year, but anyone who contacts you before January 1 will go under contract with the current year’s pricing. 

The possibilities are endless.  To increase your bottom line, you need to make sure that your marketing materials encourage action. 

This is the fifth blog in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  Here at MetaMorph Strategies we came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small business owners today.  We’re profiling them on our blog so that we can provide businesses with the tools to go to the next level. 

The 5th Biggest Marketing Mistake is: Marketing to a Target Area that is Too Narrow.  

When business owners commit this mistake, they are usually trying very hard to do some targeted marketing.  Targeted marketing is a great way to save money while increasing the effectiveness of your ad campaign. 

The downside of targeted marketing is that business owners can sometimes get too specific in the audience that they’re trying to reach.  For example, a smart targeted marketing strategy for a restaurant located in the middle of a bustling business district would be to market your restaurant to business people who might eat lunch at your establishment.  However, if this is the only marketing that you do and you poor all of your resources into just this one segment of the population, then you may find that your restaurant is empty on nights and weekends. 

Many business men and women who are either single or in small families, prefer to live near where they work so that they can minimize their commute times. The owner of the restaurant could also market it as the place for young, single business people to come to on Saturday nights by offering live bands, running bar specials, and more. 

Working to create a targeted marketing campaign is a smart way to manage your money and your time.  However, you don’t want to ignore other potential customers in the process. 

Visit the next blog when we talk about the 6th biggest marketing mistake, advertising without a Call to Action.

This is the fourth blog in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  Here at MetaMorph Strategies we came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small business owners today.  We’re blogging about the mistakes so that we can offer solutions and ideas to help small business owners get back on course.

The fourth Biggest Marketing Mistake is: Marketing to a Target Area that is Too Broad.

One of the biggest mistakes made by small businesses is that they try to get every person on the planet to do business with them.  In their advertising, press releases, even in their networking, they try to promote their business as something for everyone.  The problem with that game plan is that marketing messages that were created for everyone end up appealing to no one.

Another downside of marketing with a broad target is that you tend to spend more time and money for inferior results.  If you’re trying to reach everyone in a major metropolitan city, then you’ll need a fairly extensive advertising campaign.  It’s smarter to tailor your marketing to the segment of the population that is most likely to purchase your product.

When planning out your target area, here is what you need to consider:

1. Who is most likely going to buy your product and service?
2. What is the best way to reach them? 
3. Where should you advertise to connect with these individuals?
4. What types of advertising and marketing materials are going to speak the loudest to your target market?
5. What is most important to them?  Your advertising should reflect an awareness of their values.

The bottom line is that certain people are more likely than others to buy your products and services.  Sometimes, business owners just want to reach everyone.  If you truly believe that your product is something that everyone needs, there’s nothing wrong with that.  Wanting to reach everyone is not always a bad thing.  But you’ve still got to start out with a focused target market.  If your product is new, then you may need to look at consumers who are more likely to try new things.

When it comes to marketing, get specific about your audience.  It will make all the difference in the world for your marketing campaign and for your bottom line.

This is the third blog in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  A few weeks ago, the team here at MetaMorph Strategies came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small business owners.  So, for the next four weeks, we’ll be profiling each of the 12 mistakes here on our blog.  We’ll do more than just list the mistakes, we’ll also provide you with some great ideas for how to get on the right track.

The third Biggest Marketing Mistake is: Marketing Without a Unique Selling Position.

In today’s world, it’s hard to be a true original.  The odds are that another company sells a product or service that is very similar, if not identical, to the one that you sell.  While you may know that your company is heads above the competition, how will your potential customers know?

A unique selling position is your opportunity to stand out.  It’s a statement or an idea in your marketing campaign where you explain why your company is the one that a consumer should bring their business to.  Give your marketing campaign a boost by creating a powerful and unique selling position.

When developing the concepts for your unique selling position, it’s important to consider all the areas in which you differ from the competition.  What’s different about your location compared to theirs?  Do you offer warranties that are uncommon for your industry?  Have you been in business longer?

Even if it seems as if your company doesn’t come out on top when compared to the competition, there are ways to use even these differences to your advantage.

For example, you may think that you can’t use price as your unique selling position if your products are more expensive than the competition’s products.  While you probably don’t want to mention price specifically, what you can do is talk about quality and excellence.  Consumers often think that the least expensive option is also the lowest quality.  Help consumers to understand that, while your company may be more expensive, the price difference offers a tangible benefit.  The important thing here is to deliver on the promise.  Advertising is about making promises.  Building a successful brand reputation is about keeping them.

The bottom line is that you don’t want to do is market yourself in such a way that you look exactly like the competition.  Stand out.  Be different.  Create unique selling positions by offering innovative specials and deals that bring in new clientele.  Whatever you do, don’t be the same as everyone else. 

If you still feel stumped, let us know.  Our marketing experts can sit down with you to help uncover the unique selling position that will take your business to the next level. 

This is the second installment in our series on The 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes.  The team here at MetaMorph Strategies came up with a list of what we think are the 12 Biggest Marketing Mistakes made by small businesses today.  So, for the next four weeks, we’ll be profiling each of the twelve mistakes in this blog.  The second Biggest Marketing Mistake is Not Monitoring Your Marketing Return on Investment. 

One of the most important things you can do for your business is to measure your company’s return on your marketing investment (ROI).  Most companies make marketing decisions with blindfolds on.  They don’t have any real scientific way to determine if their marketing efforts are bringing in new clients. 

Let’s run through a scenario.  Say that you do a multi-faceted advertising campaign which includes television, radio, and print.  Afterwards your business booms.  When the campaign is over you have to decide which of the three advertising outlets to maintain.  How do you choose?  Do you make the choice based on which one is least expensive?  Do you try to find out from your customers how they heard about you?  If you’re going to use these means to decide which form of advertising to continue you may as well just flip a coin.

If you’d measured your ROIs, you would have known exactly how many customers came to you through the television ads, how many came from the print ads, and how many heard about you from the radio ads.   Furthermore, since ROIs can be measured in real time, if you’d realized halfway through the campaign that the print ads weren’t really bringing in enough clients to justify their cost, you could’ve cancelled the mailings that were scheduled for the remainder of the campaign.

If all of this sounds too good to be true, it isn’t.  As a matter of fact, it gets even better. 

Measuring your ROIs can be one of the least expensive things you’ll do in your marketing campaign.  Whether your use unique landing pages, proxy phone numbers, or web analytics, technology has made it easy and inexpensive to learn exactly how your new customers heard about you.  Since measuring the effectiveness of your marketing campaign is so simple and so inexpensive, there is almost no reason for small business owners to not be doing it.

If you really want to learn more about why and how to measure your ROIs, then you may be interested to know that MetaMorph Strategies’ own CEO, Mona Moore is conducting a workshop through the Association of Small Business Owners.  The details are listed below.  If you can’t make the workshop, but you know that you need to start measuring your ROIs, then just give us a call.  We can set you up with all the tools to start tracking the effectiveness of your company’s marketing campaign. 

The details of the workshop are as follows:

“Marketing ROI: How to Measure Leads from Every Aspect of Your Marketing Campaign and Evaluate Effectiveness.” 

Hosted by the Arizona Small Business Association. 

“Have you ever wondered just how effective that print campaign was?  Or how many actual leads you are getting from that radio commercial you spent so much money on?  Measuring campaign effectiveness is critical to small businesses – especially in a tough economy when marketing dollars need to stretch as far as possible.  Join us as we present various ways to track leads and sales for each of your marketing efforts.”  Presented by MetaMorph Strategies.  Fees: Members are free, Non-Members are $20.00.

The ASBA workshop will take place on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 4130 E. Van Buren St., Suite 150, Phoenix, Arizona. 

To register, please visit the ASBA website at http://www.asba.com/events/details.aspx?EventID=4465.