Self Employed Success

I’m going to be harsh here, so hold on to your hat.

Have you CHECKED to see if people want your product or service?

The first — and ultimately the biggest — mistake that small business owners make is that they fail to do adequate market research. We get overly-excited about a new idea and assume that our customers will love it, too. We ask a few colleagues or a few customers, and base our strategic business decision on the opinion of six people. Then we are bitterly disappointed when no one buys.

Save yourself the wasted time and money (not to mention the anxiety and frustration), and learn to conduct a simple marketing research project to test the waters.

For more help on doing your own Marketing Research:

• Read my article, Ground Truth and the Importance of Market Research
• Listen to my free, one hour how-to audio, Yes, You Can Do Your Own Market Research

I’d love to hear your story, your comments, your questions about market research. Post your comments here!

Read the complete Why Marketing Fails blog series here:

• Why Marketing Fails: Introduction
• Why Marketing Fails #1: Market Research
• Why Marketing Fails #2: Follow-the-Herd Marketing
• Why Marketing Fails #3: No Follow-Up
• Why Marketing Fails #4: Blindfold Marketing
• Why Marketing Fails #5: Niche Exhaustion
• Why Marketing Fails #6: Lack of Repetition
• Why Marketing Fails #7: Not Tracking Success and Failure

We always want to know which marketing techniques are the best, the easiest, and yield the greatest results for our time and money. Any shortcuts to marketing are viewed with awe and respect.

But what can you do when you try the “best” marketing techniques and they just aren’t working for you? Do you ditch them? Or is there a simple tweak you can do that will transform them?

In this blog post series, I review the top seven reasons and offer you a quick tip on how to tweak your marketing as related to the “failure point.” These insights and tips will help you get your marketing back on track.

Read the complete Why Marketing Fails blog series here:

• Why Marketing Fails: Introduction
• Why Marketing Fails #1: Market Research
• Why Marketing Fails #2: Follow-the-Herd Marketing
• Why Marketing Fails #3: No Follow-Up
• Why Marketing Fails #4: Blindfold Marketing
• Why Marketing Fails #5: Niche Exhaustion
• Why Marketing Fails #6: Lack of Repetition
• Why Marketing Fails #7: Not Tracking Success and Failure

Got a topic you’d like me to cover in this series? A comment? A question? Post your comments…I’d love to hear from you!