Fool me once: 6 Marketing Mistakes You Should Never Make

These days, it’s difficult to be an entrepreneur or a business owner without a basic understanding of marketing 101. Even with the best franchises, a multitude of support channels and a spoon-fed marketing plan, it is difficult to be successful without that knowledgebase. However, knowing is only half the battle. At the risk of sounding like an ancient Zen master: to understand what to do, you must first understand what not to do. I had the pleasure of picking the brains of two of the best in the franchising space to learn what mistakes to avoid if you want to be successful. Matt Kelton, COO of Showhomes [caption id="attachment_15076" align="alignright" width="103" caption="Matt Kelton"][/caption] Losing control According to Kelton, one of the biggest mistakes that could be made is not maintaining control of your marketing and brand image. “Every franchisee will have a perception that they are an expert and will challenge you to do their own ads,” said Kelton. “What ends up happening is you have a mish-mash of ads that don’t meet system standards and look unprofessional. Create standards and enforce the marketing of your brand to ensure you have the same professional look and feel system-wide.” Chasing the flavor of the month Kelton cautions franchisees about jumping on trends that might not have relevance to their industry or brand. “You will have every vendor in the world calling you trying to sell you a variety of services,” said Kelton. “If you chase after every new idea, you will find that you are diluting your resources and not building a real congruent marketing strategy.” Clearly, knowing who you are as a brand can trump the “flavor of the month.” Not trusting your experts “The skill set in running the operations of a franchise system is radically different to what is needed to develop an effective marketing strategy. You can try to hire someone but the reality is it will not be nearly as cost effective as bringing on an experienced group who can give you their years of experience in helping you build your brand,” said Kelton. There are experts in marketing for a reason. If you are not willing to use their experience, you are wasting money and resources.   [caption id="attachment_15065" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Adam Terranova"][/caption] Adam Terranova, Marketing Manager for Philly Pretzel Factory Paralysis by analysis Terranova makes no mistake when stating that, “trying to appease everyone” will end up leaving you spread too thin. When looking at your pool of data, you will quickly find that not everyone loves everything you are doing. Focusing on the small collection of people not interested in what you are doing instead of the majority could leave your business crippled. Narrow focus “Use the strength of each medium accordingly,” said Terranova. “You may not think so at first, but even social media is an advertising medium.” If you’re not using all of your channels to the fullest, you are doing yourself a disservice. As the marketing and social space continue to blend year-by-year, recognizing all the different ways you need to reach your consumer is becoming more and more important. Unclear messaging Finally, plain and simple, if your “ads are too cluttered,” you won’t resonate with your consumer. Know what you’re trying to accomplish and stay the course to reach success.