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