13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakes | Small Biz Marketing Specialist
13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakes

13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakes

Ya know that sometimes it’s better to know what not to do in marketing vs. what you should do.  Check out Small Business Stacey’s Facebook Live presentation on 13 Ways to Not Screw Up Your Marketing … These 13 mistakes are terrifying to make. So are Stacey’s jokes, but everyone needs a laugh every once in a while.

Transcription

Hello everybody. It’s Free Training Friday. Are you ready? Small Business Stacey here with hat, glasses, and wand. You see, it’s the Friday before Halloween, my favorite holiday of the year because you get to dress up, act crazy, and eat tons of candy, and nobody thinks anything different about it. Welcome, thanks for attending today’s Free Training Friday, 13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakes You Never Want To Make. Can you tell what I am? What am I going to be for Halloween? Anybody?

13 Terrifying Marketing MistakesWait, check out this hat. I’m going to start with some fun here. All right, enough of that, right? No, I’m not a witch. I am a Small Biz Marketing Wiz and that is the best thing that you could be. Not just on Halloween, but every day of the year. All right, let’s get started with the 13 Most Terrifying Marketing Mistakes you never want to make. Here we go. Number one, making believe that you can be everything to every monster, goblin, witch, or jack-o-lantern.

Look, you can’t possibly be everything to everyone. That’s like saying that you have the only candy that everyone’s going to love, but that’s ridiculous, right, because some people like chocolate, some people like hard candy, some people like gum. Me, I like chewy candy. You can’t possibly please everybody, even if you’re focusing on just monster’s, that’s too broad. You can’t be everything to every single monster in the whole world. I mean, that’s like saying you serve all golfers or all stay at home moms. That’s just not reality. All right.

You’ve got to get more specific and be something for someone. This is what I talk about in my book, Small Business Marketing Made Easy. I’m going to give you the opportunity to get a free copy of it at the end of today’s training. As you’re getting really specific in being something for someone, let’s say you want to focus on monster’s, then you would maybe focus on monster’s with three eyes, who have two kids, how are focused on having their kids eat more healthy because they eat too much candy, right? That’s how you get more specific.

To make this terrifying marketing mistake go away, we are going to need to answer a joke. Are you guys ready? How do you mend a broken jack-o-lantern? With a pumpkin patch. All right, that mistake is now fixed. Terrifying marketing mistake number two is not turning off 13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakesyour phone when you’re doing Facebook live. Terrifying mistake number two is not having a clear USP. No, a USP is not some superstitious voodoo hacks, but when you get it right, it can give you supernatural powers. A USP is a unique selling proposition. It’s defining what makes you unique and different.

You see, when I was a kid, I would always win the best a Halloween custom and that’s because it was always something that was homemade, and not just going to Walmart, and buying the cheapest costume from the shelf. One year I was a tin man. I literally had this box built around me and I was literally spray painted silver. I walked around with an ax. It was great. One year I was a laundry basket. One year I was the yellow pages. You see and that’s because these are cool costumes that are unique and different.

Let’s face it, a costume is a commodity, right? If you’re going to have a USP, you need to say what makes you unique and different. In my coffee and smoothie and business, there’s nothing more commoditized than that, right? So, instead of saying, “I sell smoothies.” I say, “I serve a vacation in a cup.” That’s a great unique selling proposition. I work an accountant who serves small business owners and when she came to me she was very unclear, you know, on who she was really serving, and how she could best get people in as new clients. We realized that she’s serving the small business audience, but she wasn’t really being clear on how she helped.

I helped her get really clear on that and we branded her the Small Biz Profit Defender. Now, would you rather have a small business accountant or a Small Biz Profit Defender? We as small business owners know we need to defend our profits. Another example, I have a client who’s a realtor and she was very clear, “I don’t want to be the same as everybody else just pitching real estate here and there.” We helped brand her in that she helps her clients make smart real estate decisions. See, there’s a big difference between just selling houses and helping people make smart real estate decisions.

13 Terrifying Marketing MistakesAll right, so when you’re crafting your USP, basically what you want to do is define what makes you great? What makes you different? But, presenting that from your customer clients or patients point of view. All right. To make this terrifying marketing mistake go away, we need to answer a joke. What do birds sing on Halloween? Anybody? What do birds sing on Halloween? Twick or tweet. All right, that mistake is gone. Terrifying marketing mistake number three is talking to prospects, customers, clients, and patients like you’re dawning these big ugly fangs. Don’t think that you don’t do it.

You see, we’re so eager to make a sale, it’s like we just have our fangs ready to bite them, right? Buy my stuff. I have stuff to sell. If you don’t believe me, then go to your about page and tell me how many I, I, I, we, we, we are on there, all right. That’s like sticking your fangs directly into their neck and nobody wants to get bitten by a vampire. All right. What you want, I’m going to give you some more tips of how to fix this in the upcoming things, but ultimately, get rid of those fangs, and turn it around, and talk about what helps your customers, clients, and patients.

Let’s get rid of this terrifying mistake. Joke, why did Dracula take cold medicine? Dan, you’re on the line here, are you wondering? Why did Dracula take cold medicine? To stop his coffin, which I am dealing with. I was up all night coughing, so 13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakeshopefully, I’m going to make it through today’s presentation. Terrifying marketing mistake number four is underestimating the power of Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. What does Beetlejuice have to do with this? Word of mouth marketing.

You see, it doesn’t matter what you say about yourself, what matters is what other people are saying about you. You see, 62% of consumers search online to check out reviews, and information about you before they make a buying decision. 90% believe their friend’s recommendations. It is uber important to focus on reviews, ratings, and referrals, recommendations, they all matter. Get really clear, go online, it might be really scary, but this is Halloween, you can handle it. Go online and Google yourself and see what comes up.

13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakes

All right and you need to work those reviews, and reputation, and referrals every single day. We need to make this terrifying marketing mistake go away, so here is a joke. Why can’t skeletons play music in church? Anybody? Because they have no organs. Marketing mistake number four gone away. Terrifying marketing mistake number five, thinking that eyeballs matter. Guys, this is nothing more than vanity metrics. Eyeballs don’t matter. You can’t deposit eyeballs in the bank. What am I talking about? Facebook likes, Twitter followers, how many people open or click through your emails. These are vanity metrics. They make you feel really good, right? But, you can deposit them in the bank.

In my book, I talk about the Action Marketing System and ‘I’ stands for invest. It’s about knowing your metrics and making smart marketing decisions so you know what works, and what doesn’t work, and doing away with the vanity metrics. All right let’s make this one go away. The joke is, what kind of mistakes do spooks make? Boo-boos. Aw, thanks, Dan. He said, “The jokes are making my day.” Yes, we need some humor at the end of this week. Wait until you see my last marketing tip. All right.

13 Terrifying Marketing MistakesTerrifying marketing mistake number six, scaring new leads with, will you marry me, messages. Look, if I’m out trick or treating and I knock on your door, and you open it up and say, “Hey, baby, want to get married?” That’s going to be really creepy, and I’m going to run, run, run, and never come back again, right? But, that’s what you’re doing as a small business owner. Somebody knocks on your door, comes into your place of business, clicks on your website, sends you an email, the first thing you want to do is say, “Will you marry me? Will you buy my stuff? Buy, buy, buy.”

Look, people don’t want to do that the first time they meet you. You need to make sure that you are delivering value. You want them to raise their hand and say, “Yes, I want to know more. Yes, I would like to go get a cup of coffee with you.” You know, if that works out, “Yeah, I would love to go see a movie.” And then, if that works out, “Yeah, maybe we can go to dinner.” All right, eventually, you’ll get to marriage, just don’t ask for it when they come knocking on your door for trick or treat. All right, let’s make this one go away. Why did the vampire’s cancel their baseball game? Why did the vampire’s cancel their baseball game? They couldn’t find their bats. That mistake is now gone.

13 Terrifying Marketing MistakesOkay. We’re rolling through guys. Marketing mistake terrifying number seven, the howls, the screeches, the screams of buy, buy, buy in every communication. As I said before, people don’t want to buy your stuff. People buy when they’re ready to buy, not when you’re ready to sell to them. Big difference. People don’t buy when … people buy when they’re ready to buy, not when you’re ready to sell to them. You need to make sure that you’re delivering value all along the way by creating amazing content. Stay in front of mind, delivering value so that when they are ready to buy, you are the only possible solution because they’re going to say, “Wow, that company gets me.”

All right, let’s make this terrifying mistake go away. What do goblins and ghosts drink when they’re thirsty? Come on, you guys can get this one. What do goblins and ghosts drink when they’re thirsty? Ghoul-aide. That was easy to get rid of. 13 Terrifying Marketing MistakesAll right, terrifying marketing mistake number eight. This is thinking that social media equals candy. Social media does not equal candy. You know, candy is wonderful, right? We just want so much of it. We could eat all day long, but that doesn’t mean that you should be hanging out on social media all day long. You’ve got a business to run.

It’s not realistic that you are going to know how to use every social media platform anyways. Pick and choose, but not based on what you like to do, but where your prospective customs, clients, and patients hang out, all right? And then, you’ll find that there is some sweet candy in that bag. Okay, let’s make this terrifying marketing mistake go away. What does a child monster call his parents? What does a child monster call his parents? Mummy and Deady, as in deady. All right, that’s ones gone.

13 Terrifying Marketing MistakesTerrifying marketing mistake number nine, treating loyal customers like ghosts, right? So many small business owners do this. They’re so focused on new, new, new, that they forget the ones who already gave them money, the ones who already came in the door, the ones who already, you have built the know, like, and trust factor with. Stop focusing on new and work with those that already want to do business with you. As my dad says, “It’s cheaper to keeper.” All right? You need to build wow moments, and focus on retention from day one, so that you can get those rave reviews, referrals, and make those customers, clients, and patients your real brand ambassadors. All right, retention matters.

Let’s make this terrifying marketing mistake go away. How come you can’t tell twin witches apart? How come you can’t tell twin witches apart? Because you can’t tell which witch is which. All right. Are you guys liking these jokes? Is it making your marketing mistakes go away? 13 Terrifying Marketing MistakesMarketing, terrifying marketing mistake number ten, thinking that you can just cast a spell, and make people buy, right? We talked about this one. You can’t just wave a magic wand and make somebody buy from you. People buy when they’re ready to buy, not when you’re ready to sell to them.

This is all about the C in the Action Marketing System. C is for connect. You want to connect and build relationships so that they will come and buy from you. You do this by building out a content funnel. The best way to do this is just to repurpose your content. For example, I’m live here on Facebook. I’m going to repurpose this. This will then get turned into video, audio, probably a podcast, I’ll send it out in an email. It will be multi-purpose. One piece of content can go a long way. Make sure that you’re delivering that for your customer’s clients and patients. Repurpose content so you can build connections all along the way.

Let’s make this marketing mistake go away. What streets do zombies like best? What streets do zombies like 13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakesbest? Dead ends. I forgot to make it go away. All right, marketing mistake number 11, mom was right when she said, “Don’t eat that candied apple that a stranger gives you, right?” I’m going to go off on a little rant here. You see because this is where small business owners get themselves into trouble. They want the candy apple. You know, the shiny object, the little shiny easy push button where I can have $100,000.00 in new business tomorrow because some supposed guru told me that if I invest in their program, that’s what will happen.

What the supposed guru didn’t tell you is it’s going to cost you $200,000.00 to do it. All right, stay away from shiny objects. Stay away from supposed gurus who aren’t even doing what they’re preaching, they just want to sell you their program, all right. Candied apples are good, but not from strangers, okay.

Not that there aren’t some really good programs out there, but before you buy you need to really know the results from others of these programs. Also, most programs are not one size fits all, meaning what works for others may not necessarily work for your business. Just be cautious like taking any candy apples from strangers. Let’s make this one go away. What is mummy’s favorite type of music? What is a mummy’s favorite type of music? Wrap music. All right, we made that mistake go away.

13 Terrifying Marketing MistakesTerrifying marketing mistake number 12, using the wrong bat channel on social, that is. You see, small business owners they think like social is the only way that they can get business. They want to be on every platform, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and on, and on, and on. Like I said, it’s unrealistic you’re going to know how to use all of these. You want to leverage the one where you can get the biggest bang for your buck. I have a client that is a Hawaiian product’s company. They are crushing it on Pinterest because it’s such a visual place where you can post pictures and the beauty of Hawaii. They’re doing great on Pinterest.

I have a client that is in the technology business and they focus on B to B marketing, so they are doing really great on LinkedIn. Pick that one platform, the one bat channel where you can dominate, and build your tribe. Let’s make this marketing mistake go away. What do you call wood when it’s scared? I’m losing it here. Hold on. What do you call wood when it’s scared? Petrified. All right. Guys, we’re making it to the end. Terrifying 13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakesmarketing mistake number 13, running your business like a zombie. You know, got to put out this fire. Got to put out that fire. I’m doing social media today. I’m doing email marketing tomorrow.

Look, guys, you need a marketing plan. Smart business owners know what they’re going to do, how they’re going to do it when they’re going to do it. The way you do that is with a marketing plan. This way you can work on your business, not in your business. Another key thing that you need to know is you need to make your marketing ongoing. Consistency matters. You need to do something every single day to move your business forward. This is the O in the Action Marketing System, making it ongoing. That doesn’t mean that you have to do it all because yes, you have a business to run.

My motto is, do what you do best, outsource the rest. Do what you do best, outsource the rest. There are a lot of company’s out there, Small Biz Marketing Specialist, we can help you get your marketing done. If you want to do it yourself, that’s great, but do what you do best, and outsource the rest. Let’s make this marketing mistake go away. What would you find on a haunted beach? What would you find on a haunted beach? A sand witch. All right guys, those were the 13 Most Terrifying Marketing Mistakes you never want to make. But, there’s one more.

This is the most important of all. Terrifying marketing mistake 13.5, not having fun with your marketing. Look guys, stop being so ghostly. You know what I mean. Oh, I’m a small business, I need to be professional, right? That, oh my God, people will think I’m cuckoo if do something fun, entertaining, put on a hat that dances. Let’s try this out again. Right? Look, guys, there is no B to B marketing. There is no B to C marketing. The only marketing there is, is H to H, human to human. People buy from people. A company, an organization can’t buy your stuff, which means a person does, a human.

It’s all on relationships. They will bond with you because of you. Be yourself, have fun, showcase the small business that you always dreamed, and knew that you’d have. All right guys, that’s it for today. I’m going to look through the stream, see if there’s any questions. Anybody want to share a terrifying marketing mistake, or any of these resonate with you the most? Put it in the comments. While that’s happening, I know you’re wondering how can you get rid of these 13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakes? You may have realized that you have a few more.

I’m going to leave you with three resources. If you’re the type of person who just loves doing marketing yourself, and actually if you’re here joining me live, I want to give you the opportunity to get a free copy of my book, Small Business Marketing Made EZ. Just go to smallbizmarketingspecialist.com/book. All right and you can get a free copy of it. If you go to Amazon, it’s going to cost you $15.00, but I’m going to pay the cost of the book and gift it to you for free. Unfortunately, I do have to charge you $6.95 because that’s what the warehouse is charging me to ship it to you, but that is a nominal investment to have a book. This isn’t even a book, this is a key to your future business success.

I lay out the action marketing system, Six Simple Steps to Get Your Marketing Into Action, literally and figuratively. Option number two, if you want to work on getting your marketing plan done but would like to have some expert expertise from Small Business Stacey helping you create that custom marketing plan, this is not some vanilla cookie cutter. You’re going to build it as we go along, then check out my Action Marketing Training Program, which is https://smallbizmarketingspecialist.com/actionplan. I have a super special deal going on that through Halloween only. It’s reduced to $297.00. It’s a steal, guys.

Creating your own custom marketing plan for $297.00, but you need to snag that up, and put it in your trick or treat bag because November 1st, boom, the price triples. All right, option number three, if you’ve realized that you have a lot of terrifying marketing mistakes, and really need some help, then just schedule a call with me, and we will do a 30-minute marketing breakthrough strategy call and talk about where you are in your business. More importantly, where you want to go. The call is completely free. I’m not here to sell you anything. You will leave with strategies that you can take and put into action.

If you want my help in implementing them, that’s great, but it will be well worth your time. Go to smallbizmarketingspecialist.com/call and set up your free 30-minute marketing breakthrough strategy. All right, let me look through the comments real quick and we are good to go guys. Have a fantastic Friday, weekend, Halloween, and do away with all of those 13 Terrifying Marketing Mistakes. They are gone and so am I. Have a great day everybody, bye-bye.

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About the Author smallbizmarketing

Stacey Riska, aka "Small Business Stacey" is a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about saving small - and not so small - businesses one marketing plan at a time. She helps business owners become a #SmallBizMarketingWiz by teaching them marketing strategies that get MORE: MORE leads, MORE customers/clients/patients, MORE sales, and MORE profit. Stacey's in-demand "Small Biz Marketing Success Coaching and Mastermind Program" is transforming the businesses - and lives - of those who want wealth, freedom, and market domination. Her highly acclaimed book "Small Business Marketing Made EZ" lays out the 6-simple-step plan to get your marketing into ACTION - literally and figuratively. Stacey is also the creator of Cups To Gallons, the place where independent coffee, smoothie, juice bar, ice cream, dessert and snack shop owners go to learn how get into lucrative catering so they stop selling by the cup and start selling by the gallon. In this program she teaches from experience, as it was the key strategy that transformed her coffee and smoothie business from being $500K in debt to a 7-figure profitable business. When not saving the small business world, she enjoys sipping red wine, eating chocolate (who doesn't!) and spending time with her amazing husband.

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