3 easy ways to sabotage your marketing

Are you wasting your marketing effort by doing any of these 3 things?

Marketing costs are based on real cash, real time, and in many cases really hard work.

But many individuals, companies and organisations sabotage all their marketing activity when they indulge in the following three actions:

1. They are crap at paying their bills - not paying your invoices early or at least before the due date is the biggest way of damaging personal and business credibility. I've worked for hundreds of companies and the vast majority think they can get away with abusing suppliers without it damaging the perception of their brand. Well they can't and apart from being a bad way to manage a business it's a wonderful way of devaluing a brand.
2. They are crap at leadership and management - having a demotivated team in the office is another fantastic way of wasting your marketing budget. Why would anyone who has to suffer the daily agony of working for and with poor leaders and appalling managers feel anything but contempt for the product or service they help sell. When they go home or socialise and explain what an a***hole they have as a boss, it's the company's brand that suffers.
3. They actually have a crap product or service - it may come as a bit of a shock but many companies try really hard to sell a substandard product or service. They waste time and money trying to polish a turd. The sad thing is that in most cases the owners actually believe they are offering superb value and it's the market that has it all wrong. 

If you want your marketing to work for you please consider:

• Paying your bills 5 days before they are due
• Treat your staff with respect - if you have poor managers get rid of them
• Be honest about how good your product or service actually is, and if its rubbish then do something about it

Image courtesy of satit_srihin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Marketing is like a coat hanger

Like a lot of blokes I have a nasty habit of throwing my best clothes down on a chair, or the floor, etc. This irritates my wonderful wife who begs me to consider the value and use a &^%$£&^ coat hanger!

Do you use these?

In recent months as the UK economy has been waiting for the election result,  a number of clients have treated their marketing in the same way. They just discarded plans, stopped investing, refused to participate in social media, and just threw their marketing activity "on the floor".

I've done it myself. When you're super busy and have piles of work you just forget to do the basics. Some will notice this is the first blog in quite a few weeks!

Marketing takes time and investment and needs to be part of a business plan just like managing cash flow and new product or service development.

Marketing is just like the coat hanger you use to protect and keep your best clothes in the best shape possible.

And the most important part of your marketing coat hanger is the bit at the top - the hook or loop that you use to hang the item up with. That loop has to be strong and resilient and designed to take a lot of weight. In marketing terms that hook has nothing to do with money or time. The hook or loop on your marketing coat hanger is all about focus and importance.

I consider marketing to be the most important function in running and developing a successful business - and every business needs to start the day with a marketing moment. Every day is a marketing day and a day which is dominated by anything else is a wasted day.

I can assure you that businesses that fret over investing 5 or 10 percent of turnover on marketing are competing with businesses that invest 20% as a minimum.

So put your business away each night on a marketing coat hanger you can be proud of, rather than just leaving it in a crumpled heap on the floor, waiting for someone to tread on it.

Image courtesy of winnond at FreeDigitalPhotos.net