How To Avoid The #1 Small Business Marketing Mistake Everyone Makes

A question for all small business owners: "what business are you in?". Mostly the answer is something like "landscape gardening", or "car repairs". You get the picture.

The answer is always the same, in the sense they tell me their business is the business of selling whatever "thing" they're selling.

And... they're wrong.

Because for everyone who thinks they're in the "thing" business, no matter what that "thing" is... the fact is their real business is the "marketing of the 'thing' business"!

And if you think about it, this makes sense, because marketing is what brings us clients (I prefer to use the term 'client' because it better defines the relationship you should be developing with your market, whereas a 'customer' is just someone who gives you money).

And if we don't have any clients, we don't make any money, and if we don't make any money, then we don't have a business at all.

Although it's counterintuitive and probably the best-kept secret in business, the truth is marketing is the most important thing you can ever do in your business. It's the most important thing for you to be thinking about and working on.

Now, often at this point business owners ask, "so, what is marketing, then?". It's a good question and the answer might surprise you.

Because it's not just advertising and sales, although they definitely come into it.

On the contrary: marketing is everything you do or say that anyone else can see. It's your attitude, the way you look, the way you act, and, most important, the way your clients feel about doing business with you.

Sounds complicated, doesn't it? And I know from most business owners' experience, marketing is a bit like a visit to the dentist: you know you've got to do it, but it's painful and expensive, and you really wish there was an alternative.

Bad news: you don't have a choice, not if you want a successful business. Yet marketing is fun. It's an investment of your time and money that pays rich rewards and you should never view it as a "necessary evil". Once you start doing it properly and harvesting the rewards, you'll probably wonder why you didn't start sooner.

It really boils down to three fundamental areas: your message, your market, and the media you use to reach them. It's that simple; but, like the foundation of your house, you've got to get them spot on because everything else you do is built upon them.

Ultimately problems arise because business owners get these three fundamentals the wrong way around. They'll often choose the media based on expediency, and then try to figure out a message to appeal to the market the media reaches.

This is compeltely the reverse of what it should be. The first step should be to find a market eager to buy. The late marketing guru, Gary Halbert, said you should "look for a starving crowd". Then once you've identified the market - the prospects you'd like to convert into paying clients or customers - you can develop a compelling and engaging message that's going to encourage them to want to do business with you.

And then, and only then should you think about how to reach them and choose the right media to fit.

Unfortunately, the truth is most business owners are sold on the marketing strategies and media they use by default - meaning they drift into a strategy or a medium almost by accident rather than as a logically thought out and considered step in a sound marketing strategy.

As often as not they'll choose a medium simply because the Golden Pages rep happened to knock on the door that week, or a magazine or local paper made a well-timed cold call.

There's nothing wrong with these avenues - that's not what I'm saying. No, the point I'm making is, just like a ship with a port in mind, your marketing has to have a clearly defined goal so you can plan a way to get there.

In a future article, I'll share with you some insights on how to identify your ideal target market and the conclusions might just surprise you, because they're not necessarily as obvious as you think.