Small Business Marketing Tips: Exorcising the Ghosts of “Bad Marketing” Past, Present, and Future

Aaaaaaah, Christmastime!  Snow, parties, baked goods…and movies!  This weekend I watched George C. Scott’s A Christmas Carol. One of the best versions of this powerful story ever, if you haven’t seen it.

I’m always moved when I see this film, but this weekend, I was struck by one particularly important moment.

Okay, so remember Jacob Marley? That greedy, gaunt ghost who takes it upon himself to return from the grave and warn his bah-humbugging ex-partner, Scrooge.  Marley tells ol’ Ebenezer that if Scrooge doesn’t make some changes–and FAST–he’ll be doomed to suffer an eternal fate even more miserable than Marley’s.

And so I thought about that for a minute.  And realized: Isn’t that a metaphor for all of us?  Especially when it comes to sales and marketing?

Put another way…what bad marketing decisions are you gonna be carrying around forever unless you change your ways?

Here are some of the biggest I see…and how to fix ‘em–fast.

1. Sucky Sales Copy.  If your advertising sales copy stinks, so will your sales–whether you’re selling or generating leads online, in print, or over the broadcast media like radio or TV.  Fortunately, copywriting master Clayton Makepeace has a tremendous new post about how to avoid the 3 biggest blunders most business owners make when writing sales copy.  Find out how you can fix your sales copy and avoid being damned to an eternity of lackluster sales.

2. Don’t Know–and Don’t Care to Know–Your Customer.  The great Jay Abraham says that most business owners make the fatal mistake of falling in love with their product when they SHOULD fall in love with their prospect.  But invespBlog has a fantastic new resource to help you create personas to really get to know your prospects.  This is great for the online AND offline marketer.

3. Get Educated.  Every small business owner needs to understand marketing basics.  Here’s an incredibly useful, free recession marketing report that will teach you powerful principles of low-cost, high-leverage marketing activities.