Much of the time we spend here is devoted to discussing strategies for rapid business growth through marketing.

However, I’ve found it’s just as important to learn from mistakes as it is to follow good advice.

In this article, I’ll outline three of the most common marketing blunders made by small and medium-sized businesses.

These three “stupid” marketing strategies have killed many small businesses. Left unchecked, they could kill yours.

So here's what not to do.

Want to know what is the difference between marketing strategies and tactics? We've broken it down here so you can have all the facts before you invest time, money and resources into marketing your business.

Also, check out this blog to see the hot marketing trends for 2022.

Do You Want to Grow Your Business Rapidly?

Then you need to market it. But not just any marketing will do. In my new 1-Page Marketing Plan Course, I show you the exact techniques I've used to start, grow, and exit several multi-million dollar businesses, so you can too.

Tell Me More

#1 Stupid Marketing Strategy – Not Tracking Advertising Return On Investment (ROI)

John Wanamaker, one of the marketing greats, famously said:

Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.

While this was understandable a century ago, when it was first said, it should be a crime to say today. Yet the reality is that most small businesses do little if any tracking of advertising.

Not measuring where your leads and sales come from and not tracking ROI on ad spend is the mark of the amateur. We all have at our disposal the technology to quickly, easily and cheaply track advertising effectiveness.

Tools such as toll-free numbers, website analytics, and coupon codes make this trivial. Remember what gets measured, gets managed. Be ruthless with your ad spend by cutting the losers and riding the winners. Obviously, to know what’s losing and what’s winning, you need to be tracking and measuring.

#2 Stupid Marketing Strategy – Going Too Broad

Who is your target market? If you tell me “everyone,” then I know you haven’t properly thought this through.

Trying to target everyone, in reality, means you’re targeting no one. By going too broad you kill your “specialness” and become a commodity bought on price.

By narrowly defining a target market whom you can wow and deliver huge results for, you become a specialist. A specialist is someone sought out, respected, and most importantly trusted.

When you narrow down your target market, you naturally decide who you’re going to exclude. Don’t underestimate the importance of this.

Excluding potential customers scares many small business owners. They mistakenly believe that a wider net is more likely to capture more customers. This is a huge mistake.

Dominate a niche, then once you own it, do the same with another and then another. But never do so all at once. Doing so dilutes your message and your marketing power.

Read this article to Find Your Niche & Dominate It.

#3 Stupid Marketing Strategy – Wasting Money On “Branding” When You're A Small Business

So many small businesses waste huge sums of money on “branding.” They see their large competitors do so and think that this must be the path to success.

I explain in explicit detail here why this is crazy.

Here’s a short illustration. Think of yourself as a hunter and your marketing dollars as firepower. You need to use your limited firepower wisely so that you can successfully hunt, come home victorious, and feed your family.

If you start randomly firing in every direction, you’re going to startle and scare off your prey. You need to be targeted and clever if you wish to be victorious.

Of course, some people will argue with me and say that “getting your name out there” is the way to go.

Unless you’re a large business like Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola, or similar then it’s likely you can’t afford to burn tens of millions of dollars on fuzzy marketing like “branding” or “getting your name out there”.

Rather than “getting your name out there”, you’ll fare much better by concentrating on getting the name of your prospects in here.

Time To Craft Your Marketing Plan

As a small or medium-sized business, you need to get a fast return on your marketing spend.

Putting your comparatively tiny marketing budget into fuzzy marketing is like the proverbial drop in the ocean. You need a plan.

The game of mass marketing, branding, and “getting your name out there” type of marketing can only be won with atomic bomb scale firepower.

If you’re a small to medium business, that’s not a game you’re equipped to play.

If you’ve found yourself engaging in any of these stupid marketing strategies, now’s the time to stop, re-evaluate, and change course.