Written by: Abigail Tiefenthaler, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Marketing can be your best business-building investment or a waste of your time, energy, and money.
If you’re finding that your marketing isn’t moving enough prospects through a process to get them to your sales table, chances are at least one of the mistakes listed below is the culprit. Could you be making more than one? Sure. But even identifying one mistake and doing a course correction can jumpstart your marketing and get it on track.
Any mistake that creates confusion in your prospect’s mind will get them to stop paying attention and stop following you. Which means you won’t be there when they’re finally ready to say yes. Even if you’re the best solution to the problem they’re looking to have fixed, you will be off their radar and not have a chance to get them the results they need for success.
Mistake No.1 No strategy.
There is no rhyme or reason for your marketing activity. You're doing a little of this and a little of that without any clear plan. You are impatient, thinking results will be immediate, so you move on if something doesn’t happen right away. You have to remember that marketing is a long game. Marketing starts with visibility and then nurtures prospects and develops authority. It’s a process. It requires a strategy that creates boundaries and keeps you focused on the end game. It helps outline a plan.
No Strategy = No Focus
And, if you’ve had a sales conversation and you’re not following up, you’re missing out too. Marketing is not about selling someone; it’s about leading them through a decision-making process to want to know more. Most prospects need 20+ touches before a prospect makes a decision. Be honest, how many times are you communicating with them?
Mistake No.2 No clear message.
In Mistake No.1, you saw how messaging is a critical piece of your marketing. The two biggest mistakes business owners make is that their message is too broad and says nothing or, their message is constantly changing to try to find something that works. While your messaging will evolve, your message must stay consistent. If you keep changing your marketing message because you think it’s the problem, you will confuse your prospects.
Is your message strategic, focused, clear, and aligned throughout your communication?
Mistake No.3 Too many experts influencing your decisions.
It’s so tempting to try the newest and greatest marketing solution. Because, of course, it’s a next miracle marketing tactic. However, there are some challenges to giving into these temptations. First, the more you shift marketing, the more you run the risk of misaligning your message and/or your activity. The second is that while a particular marketing tool, platform, the course has worked for the expert, there is no guarantee it will work for you. And third, constantly changing paths is a sign of a lack of confidence in your own ability to make decisions.
When you’re constantly shifting and pivoting, you’re actually sabotaging your success. You’re creating random tactical strikes instead of following a clearly defined strategy. It can waste a lot of time, effort, and money.
Short-term thinking isn’t your friend with marketing. It makes you lose sight of your bigger picture and the next steps needed to get closer to your goal.
Are you ready to confidently choose a single path?
Mistake No.4 Belief that you can do your own marketing.
Marketing. It’s easy. All I have to do is post stuff on social media, and clients will come to me.
How’s this working for you?
Or maybe you believe that you have to know how to do everything before you can trust a team to do it for you.
Either way, this thinking is a fool’s game.
Even marketing experts struggle with today’s marketing. New social media algorithms and requirements, and updates happen daily. Technology is evolving at the speed of light, and keeping up with advancements and shifts is a full-time job. Plus, there are always multiple ways of doing something, so how do you determine which path is right for you?
You don’t know what you don’t know. And you can’t see what you can’t see.
Bootstrapping and patchworking your marketing doesn’t enable you to learn from the best. Instead, it blinds you because you’re in the weeds and can’t see the garden. Without a consistent and dedicated budget of time and money, you will likely waste resources trying to make what you think you need work. And it may prevent you from getting what you really need entirely.
No Budget = No Profit
Chances are, if you’re not looking at marketing strategically, your marketing is not helping you. Rule of thumb, outsource anything you don’t do well and hire the best you can afford. Trust me. It will be worth it.
Mistake No.5 You’re not taking advantage of your intel.
You have an opportunity to learn something from every marketing activity you execute, so if you’re not looking at your analytics, you won't ever truly know what works and what doesn't.
The tendency is to change everything when your marketing isn’t getting the results you want.
This happens when we can’t understand how to measure the activity. And in many cases, the intel is readily available.
When testing marketing activity, you want to change one element at a time. The headline, graphic, message, audience all are separate elements. Testing happens slowly. Think of it as following a recipe but seasoning by taste.
Are you still looking for a magic solution?
Marketing is not a one-and-done inventory or accounting method. It is different from every other business discipline in that it evolves and will give you directional support if you know how to read the intel.
Marketing is the people mover of your business. It’s your greatest ally when you’re building your business. But, unfortunately, it’s also the area where even small mistakes can cost you money. And time.
And frustration. The last thing you want to do is give up. So, look at these various mistakes with an open heart and ask yourself honestly whether you may be making them. Then, find the support you need to start a course correction.
Don’t let your own work sabotage your success. If you only ask yourself one question, it should be, “Is this activity strategically aligned with my other activities, and will it move me closer to my goal?”
If the answer is “Yes,” then pause and take a critical look at it. I promise a little strategy will go a long way toward having your marketing build authority, engagement and compel your prospects into wanting to know more. If "No," then stop doing it and refocus on something that is aligned with your bigger vision.
Abigail Tiefenthaler is co-founder of Savvy Sales Strategy, home of The Grow Method and Closers on Demand, US commission-based professional high-ticket closers. She can be reached at abigail@savvysalesstrategy.com or 954-804-9413.
Abigail Tiefenthaler, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Abigail Tiefenthaler, known as the “Launch and Leverage Strategist,” is the Co-Founder of Savvy Sales Strategy, a marketing and sales agency that works with professional coaches, speakers and consultants who are ready to minimize start-up struggles, leverage their expertise, and get online clients consistently, so they can spend more time doing what they love, in both business and life.
With over a decade in the fast-paced corporate world of advertising, Abigail honed her strategic branding and marketing skills, working with prestigious clients such as Mrs. Smith’s, AT&T, Hershey Foods, and Kodak. Through these experiences, she learned that a hospitality approach created connections between companies and clients and that team members working in their zone of genius translated to more efficient and effective results.
Abigail has a deep respect for business fundamentals and how the development and implementation of those are critical for a successful business. As the Owner of Sunshine Promotions, a company she started in 1997, she applied these, enabling her to hit the one-million-dollar revenue mark at the end of her second year in operation. Today, she is passionate about helping business owners create a solid foundation to support their biggest dreams.
In 2019, after several years of working together through their individual businesses, Abigail partnered with Tami Crea and founded Savvy Sales Strategy, an agency that closes the loop between marketing and sales and moves coaches, speakers and consultants into the six and seven-figure revenue arenas through brand strategy, messaging, and a pathway to create revenue and results, her clients say her practical, no-nonsense approach provides them with clarity on what they want to do and why they want to do it, shifting them from being practitioners of their expertise to a powerhouse professional and ultimately, fully stepping into the role of bona fide Business Owner.
When not working Abigail loves traveling and renovating homes. She can be reached at abigail@savvysalesstrategy.com or 954-804-9413
