1) They dont fully understand it.

Perception: Marketing is advertising.
Reality: Marketing may not even include advertising.
Perception: Marketing is an expense.
Reality: Marketing is an investment.
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2) They rely almost exclusively on Word-of-Mouth.

Word-of-mouth is the best way to get business and savvy marketing helps create it.
So, you cant sit back and hope for customers. You must be proactive.

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3) They think they cant afford it.

This ties in with the perception/reality issuewhen marketing is primarily limited to traditional advertising thats usually expensive and often less than effective. Good marketing involves a smorgasbord of cost-effective, creative options and executions.

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4) Their product needs improvement.

Obviously, the better the product, the better the marketing can be. Its hard to get people excited about a product thats esoteric, irrelevant or inferior.

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5) They expect results too quickly.

Unless youre running some kind of sale, marketing takes time. Like building a house or getting in shape it takes planning, discipline and patience.

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6) Arrogance or naivet.

Maybe you think you can do it all yourself or simply dont know where to turn. The problem is, if its not truly your expertise chances are youll be wasting both time and money. Think about it. If youre building a house, it helps to have a great architect, right? If you have legal issues, it helps to have a great lawyer. Successful business owners know the same applies to their marketing.

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7) They dont really know what theyre selling.

Its not just the product or service; its also the emotional and psychological benefit. You need to determine what that is.

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8) They dont really know who theyre selling to.

Many a marketing effort as failed because the prospects theyve been targeting for the past few years are not the ones they need to be targeting looking ahead.

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9) They dont embrace the new technology.

Things are constantly evolving and your marketing must employ every relevant technological advantage to stay competitive.

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10) They get help, but the wrong help.

Friends and associates are fine if theyre qualified. Too often, they arent. When it comes to getting the best marketing help one obvious test is seeing how well they do it for themselves. Visit their web site, spend a few minutes, see what theyve done and what their clients say, and then decide.

(For more Follis marketing facts, see booklet info below.)

2005 John Follis. All rights reserved. _______________________________________________________________________