Welcome to the second and final blog post examining 10 classic marketing mistakes.

6.  Being a wallflower

If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Be bold and ask clients and former employers for referrals, and give incentives if necessary. Use your testimonials in all of your marketing material.

Raise your profile by speaking in public at networking events. This is a great way to enhance your reputation and to gain practice for when you hold seminars or workshops of your own.

7. Not leaving the office

You may not enjoy making small talk over canapés at business networking events, but nothing beats face-to-face relationship building, even in this digital age. Attending industry networking events and seminars remains a highly effective way to generate business and referrals. In fact, most people you meet at networking events will be referrers rather than clients. Start meeting and getting to know complementary professionals who sell non-competing services or products to the same customers you are targeting. These individuals will prove an excellent source of referrals (though do make sure you return the favour!).

8. Overlooking the potential for repeat business

Too much marketing is focused on generating new business, often at the expense of thinking about how to maximise revenue from current or past clients. Are there any ancillary products or services you can sell to your existing client base? In particular, can you think of any subscription-based services that would enable you to generate a regular, ongoing income?

9. No follow-up system for leads

Establish a system to keep track of all of the people who are interested in your product or services, and find ways to keep in regular contact with them. By keeping track of all of the people who’ve showed an interest in your business, you’ll turn more of them into paying customers.

Getting the lead is usually easier than closing the sale. The hard work starts after someone has expressed an interest in your product or service. Follow-up their interest in detail. If they have asked for specific information don’t send them something generic – tell them what they want to know, and strike while the iron’s hot. Leads invariably go cold if you don’t follow them up straightaway.

10. Not keeping in touch with prospects

Just because someone doesn’t need your services now doesn’t mean they won’t have a requirement in the future. If they consent, add everybody who makes an enquiry – as well as everyone you’ve done business with in the past – to your database of monthly newsletter recipients. That way, you’re still in touch with them and they can contact you - or refer someone else to you - as and when the time is right. As the old saying goes, “the money’s in the list”.

I usually write about online marketing on this blog, but for a change I thought I’d address some of the wider issues of marketing as a whole.

In this two-part blog series, I’m going to discuss 10 classic marketing mistakes often made by small businesses.

1.     An untargeted approach

One of the biggest marketing mistakes is not really knowing who you’re trying to sell to. Too many businesses get wrapped up in the details of their product or service and do not spend enough time defining which group of prospective customers is likely to want to buy them.

Unless you have a marketing budget the size of Coca Cola’s, you will not be able to sell your products and services to everyone. Much better to choose a niche market that has the desire and the budget for what you’re offering.

2.     Relying on advertising

Advertising is expensive and usually ineffective unless you’re sustaining a high profile campaign where your brand will receive repeated exposure. There are other ways of gaining the exposure without spending money on expensive TV or print ads. PR, for example, is a way of generating free editorial about your business: in order to generate it, you need to become the first source of information about your industry. Run workshops, seminars and webinars in your area of expertise, and provide the press with free advice articles for them to publish in your name. And, of course, update your blog with quality content to demonstrate your industry knowledge.

3.     Relentlessly pursuing the hard sell

Nothing will alienate prospects faster than the hard sell. Building relationships is what will generate clients for your business. Nobody likes being sold to and your prospects will simply switch off when you start broadcasting to them. Instead, offer them the benefit of your expertise, and sell to them by helping them rather than by advertising to them.

4.     Poor communication

If a prospect has taken the trouble to contact you with an enquiry about your service, respond promptly and professionally. Don’t be hard to get hold of – this will come across as arrogant. If you can’t be in the office to answer every phone call, hire a VA or an answering service – it’s worth every penny.

When you send emails to prospects, make sure they’re personalised and addressed directly to the recipient – and again, make sure you contact them promptly. Sounds obvious, I know, but I’ve been addressed as “Hi there” in emails that have arrived two weeks after I’ve made an enquiry with a potential supplier, and trust me, it’s less than impressive.

5.     Not gaining the prospect’s trust

People like to ‘try before they buy’ – especially if they don’t know you and don’t have any reason to trust you. This is easy when you sell products in a shop, but can be more difficult when you sell a service. Think about what you can offer in lieu of a physical demonstration, such as a free consultation, a free e-book, or a free ticket to an event you’re running. Note the word ‘free’: it’s very important! For example, we offer free blog writing and SEO copywriting samples so that prospects can see the quality of our work for themselves.

When it comes to writing an article for web publication, structure is king. It allows you to outline your key ideas and creates an obvious path for the reader to follow you down as you expand upon your introduction. Follow our bulletpoint guide for succinct, effective article writing.

The basic structure when writing an article is simple:

• Your introduction should outline the following paragraphs and any through-line of the article you’re writing. You want to grab your reader’s attention right away, so don’t be afraid to open with a potentially controversial statement or leading question.

• The body of your article will then expand upon these points each in turn. There should be no more than one point per paragraph and each should meld seamlessly into the next, which will enable your reader to follow the train of thought more clearly.

• Your summary will draw these points together and bring out any conclusions to be drawn from them. This is the time to answer any leading questions raised in your introduction – don’t leave your audience hanging or confused as to your intentions.

• It has often been said that a good article shares many attributes with a strong public address – it should have a carefully considered tone, flow logically and fit within the allotted time frame. This comparison can be taken a step further – an acid test is to read aloud your article once written. This will help you identify any cracks in the structure – points where the text is stilted or unclear. If the article works in speech, then you know the writing is sound!

To experience the full range of benefits that article writing can bring, take a look at Write My Site’s unusual article marketing service.

There are hundreds of blogs out there, all clamouring for your readers’ attention. So how can you make yours stand out from the crowd? Here’s a quick guide to making maximum impact with minimum fuss.

First of all, be concise. This is not just dictated by your word-limit, but also by the demands of selling. Your readers will all have time demands of their own and will probably be only scanning your article and so you need to get your point across quickly and clearly to make an impression.

There are several ways to achieve this effect. The most obvious is to keep your sentences short.  Brief sentences keep arguments digestible and easy to follow. They also force you to be direct in your writing, cutting out all elements of ‘purple prose’ and unnecessary adjectives. Too many adjectives can cloud an argument, distance a client and blunt your message. Be ruthless. If it has no grammatical purpose and doesn’t add information to your sentence – cut it out.

Blogs are designed to persuade and provoke; therefore if you truly want to engage with your reader then express your point of view. In allowing for all contingencies you create flabby writing which doesn’t put your message across clearly. As a result, your company is projected as weak and indecisive. So pick an angle and make your case. Not only will your writing be much clearer than if you equivocate, you’ll also be more likely to provoke discussion amongst your reader.

Applying simple rules such as these can have a big impact on your blog and the way your message is perceived, memorised and acted upon.

Remember Write My Site offers a full blog management service if your business wants to add blogging into the marketing mix. Tariffs start from just £150 per month.