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 blog post, Ground Truth and the Importance of Market Research
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
Hey Karen, I’m so excited about reading up on your Marketing tips! I have been exploring my niche these last few months and am basically marketing on social networks at this time. I just opened up a business page on facebook, you can become a fan when you go to my profile, and I have a new start to my blog page. I’ve been working hard this morning at getting it all going. Over the next few months my website will be taking on a new look as well. As my niche develops, I want to design my website to focus on those specific details. I started my business, ACO Virtual Services, a year ago and basically kept myself open to anyone and everyone, just trying to figure out where to begin. Now that I know more of what I’m going to do, I am beginning to work on new marketing strategies. Thanks again! Looking forward to every Thursday!
Sounds like you’ve been busy, Shari! 🙂
I love that you’re working on new marketing strategies. Every once it a while it’s important to stop, take a step back, and see how things are going — and what direction you want them to go in the future.