are you making any of these 6 marketing mistakes?
when it comes to marketing, do you ever feel like you’re throwing spaghetti at a wall, hoping something will stick? chasing all of the new trends and shiny objects? not sure where to put your money and effort which leads to scattered action or no action at all?
i’ve made pretty much all of the mistakes one can make over the last 14 years of my entrepreneurial journey and rather than regale you with them, i reached out to my friend and marketing expert margo aaron, founder of that seems important, a site that explores the intersection of marketing, psychology, and entrepreneurship (because she herself is an expert in each of these arenas).
she’s going to lead us in a conversation about the 6 biggest marketing mistakes she sees so that you don’t have to make them (or if you are currently making them, you can correct them).
that said: please note, like in all things, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to marketing. margo shares: "it doesn't matter what the "industry norm' is. it matters that your approach connects with your target market. that's it.”
"the only thing that really matters is your customer: who is she? where is she? what does she want? the answer to those questions is your marketing strategy."
let’s dive into the mistakes and how to avoid them:
1. doing nothing while you're 'getting all your ducks in a row'
"we love doing nothing. doing nothing feels safe," margo says. "[but] it's not really 'nothing.' it's waiting, preparing, getting all our ducks in a row. you're doing a lot of work while you're doing nothing." there will always be many legitimate reasons for you not to act, she says. delaying for its own sake is really about fear of what others will think, and about the desire for perfectionism.
there's a famous saying by reid hoffman, "if you're not a little embarrassed when you launch your product, then you've waited too long."
so, do what reid -- and margo -- advise. start doing something. after all, you're never going to feel ready.
2. spending too much on paid ads
“most entrepreneurs who rush to paid ads are doing so because they want to automate their funnel and scale out of the gate. a better approach is to build a relationship with your customers first. once you get to know them, you'll know where, how, and when to reach them with a paid ad.”
paid ads of course have value. they make sense when, “your cost per acquisition [cpa] is less than your customer lifetime value [clv].” if it costs you more to get a customer than he or she is worth, your business loses money. if you don't yet know what a customer is worth, it's hard to know if you're wasting money. "paid ads are also useful when you understand which metrics are useful to you [impressions versus sales, for example], or when you know what benefit to lead with and what call-to-action to employ," margo explains.
3. jumping into affiliate marketing too quickly
“the goal is to develop a relationship with your affiliate and his or her audience before you start selling them something.” this can be a lot of work, but it's valuable. "to start going after affiliates when you've never sold anything before is like meeting someone at a conference who immediately asks you for money for charity," she says. "it's a great cause, but you just met this person. he hasn't earned your trust yet. the affiliate approach seems easier because you can piggyback off someone else's existing relationship with his or her audience. but you don't want your first impression to be transactional. you want it to be a relationship first. sspecially if you're building a brand.”
4. broadcasting updates on social media
like the methods described before, social media is an important, if not critical, tool in most businesses’ marketing plans. however, “if your first approach is to write something like: ‘hey guys, just launched a new website and you should check it out!,’ you run the risk of being annoying rather than valuable to your audience”, margo says. "that's what we call ‘broadcasting’ -- it's when you scream at people instead of talking with or to them."
broadcasting your message is no longer effective. "people don't appreciate being yelled at; they want to be spoken to like a human. they want a relationship with you (or your brand). social platforms are designed to be social. when you broadcast a message, you prevent yourself from being able to connect with your audience. marketing today hinges on the relationship you have with your audience -- through connection."
what's more, if you haven't done the hard work of building a relationship with your audience, no one will see your broadcasted messages anyway (certainly not on facebook or instagram these days). "the algorithms make it so you must have a relationship [evidenced by proxy metrics] before they share your content with your followers.”
many entrepreneurs believe that they have to be on every social media platform; they overwhelm themselves trying to keep up. “you only need to be where your customers are. if your customers don't use facebook, don't build a facebook presence”, explains margo.
5. hiring 'experts' to do things for you that you don't fully understand yourself
"there is something about marketing that makes smart people feel stupid," admits margo. "i get it because it's how i feel when i talk to a lawyer: like they're speaking another language. trouble is, if you don't understand what you're paying for, you're going to get duped."
“don't be afraid to ask questions until you get an answer that makes sense to you”, she says. "if you're confused, you may be dealing with someone who is also confused and won't get you the results you're looking for. experts should be able to explain the fundamentals to you in an easily digestible way.”
6. reaching out to friends and family
“if you sell organic yoga mats specifically for new moms, unless all your friends and family are new moms who do yoga and care about organic labeling, they're not your market. don't reach out to them as if they were”, margo advises.
what’s one thing you can take from this conversation with margo and apply it to your circumstances? how and when will you do that? (getting clear, specific, and committed make all of the difference.)