Common Pitfalls That Are Killing Your Business (Despite Your Best Efforts)

Love it or hate it, marketing is a necessary part of creating a successful business. If you happen to reside in the "hate it" camp, it could be because you feel like marketing means you have to be pushy, sales-y or fake. We've all had the experience of having someone try to "sell" us and it doesn't feel good.

Fortunately, such tactics are not necessary to enjoy a profitable business. And that is certainly NOT the Smart Simple Marketing way. To me, marketing is simply a matter of sharing solutions with people who are already looking for them.

You and I both face a number of problems each day, both in our personal and professional lives. And of course, we are always on the lookout for solutions to those problems. We seek solutions that are simple, easy and provide a return on our investment.

So as long as you're showing up when and where your ideal clients are looking for the solutions you offer (aka marketing), you will have a never-ending stream of great clients to work with.

What you don't want to do is shoot yourself in the foot by making common mistakes that will undermine your efforts. Take a moment to take stock of what you're doing to grow your business and make sure that you aren't making one of these critical errors:

1. Spending too little time on your marketing - Focusing on your marketing only when you remember to do so (or worse yet, when you need more clients) is a really bad way to approach growing your business. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Commit to doing something specific EVERY day to grow your business and achieve your goals. All of all the effort you put forth will add up to BIG results.

2. Not choosing a target market - Marketing to "everyone" because "everyone" needs what you have to offer is going to exhaust and frustrate you. Even IF everyone needs what you offer (which I don't think is really true), you don't have the time, budget or energy to market to them, let alone work with them all. So, FOCUS your energy on marketing ONLY to your target audience. You'll get much better results and take a lot of pressure off yourself.

3. Trying to do too much - You don't have to pursue 19 different marketing strategies to be successful. And you shouldn't because you can't juggle that many projects anyway. Choose 2-3 strategies that really fit your audience and your goals, and stick with them.

4. Giving up too soon - You can't try something for one day or one week and then throw it aside because you didn't get the results you wanted. There is no magic wand you can wave to instantly transform your business. If you choose a particular strategy, stick with it for at least 3 months and see it through. THEN you can make an informed decision about whether to continue with it, tweak it or ditch it.

5. Not following up promptly - All the effort you put forth to market your business is for naught if you don't follow-up on the leads you get. Make it a point to follow-up on ALL interest promptly (within 24-48 hours). This shows your prospect that you are diligent, committed and serious, which significantly boosts your credibility.

If you find that you are making one of these mistakes (or all of them), don't beat yourself up. At one point or another every entrepreneur, even those you admire greatly, have fallen victim to these pitfalls.

Instead, be honest about where you're falling short and make the decision to do something about it. All of these problem areas we've highlighted can easily be addressed with a simple mindset shift, a commitment to change and a focus on follow through.