1. Marketing is all I need to be successful.
I once walked into a retail store to meet with a new prospect. I was shocked and appalled by what I walked into. The store was a large showroom located in a very bad part of the city. In front of the store, on the sidewalk, right next to the street, they put two sample products. The products had obviously been out in the hot city sun for months, if not years.
You need to get a clue. If you market crap, it’s still crap. And no one wants to buy your crap.
2. My business is slow, or even failing, I better start marketing.
The truth is that marketing takes time to obtain the results that you are looking for. And if you’re looking to marketing as some sort of miracle cure for your failing business, it’s too late.
Better get out while you can. The most successful marketing strategies are implemented consistently over time. The marketing you do today may not pay off until tomorrow or even next year. That’s why you should always be marketing.
3. If I market on social media or through free publicity, I’ll get crowds of raving fans instantly.
While social media and publicity are much talked about marketing mediums, rarely do they produce instant results. Both of these require consistent exposure over time. While social media does bring in new customers, you have to build a following first and that takes time. And the only exception to the publicity rule is that you could get tons of new customers by being endorsed on a television show like Young Rich. But that situation is rare.
4. If I just hire a marketing or publicity firm, it will help my business increase sales.
Marketing is all about getting the word out about your business, but it isn’t directly correlated to sales. Marketing can get people in the door, or to your website, or even on the phone. But what happens after that is called sales and sales is up to you, your staff, or whoever is interacting with the customer. If you don’t know how to follow up, service customers, give them what they want, close a sale, etc, all the marketing in the world won’t help. You can’t just sit back and think that customers will do all the work themselves. Marketing can get them there for you, what happens after that is up to you.
