ONE-STEP MARKETING
Would you walk up to a stranger at a party and ask 'Would you marry me?' What do you think the response would be? The 'One-Step' marketing strategy used by most small business owners today is just like this approach! It's everywhere -- and it's a big money waster. It consists of an ad, flyer or other marketing vehicle that simply 'announces' the business name, possibly lists a few basic features of the product or service and ends with an address and phone number. The prospect is now expected to respond to this type of marketing piece by immediately purchasing the product or service. Unless you are offering an extremely 'high-demand,' 'hard-to-get' product/service this marketing strategy 'almost always' results in little or no response.

NOT TELLING YOUR PROSPECTS WHAT TO DO
There is rarely enough information in the typical marketing piece for a consumer to make an 'immediate' buying decision. Therefore, that can't be the action expected from the consumer. Second, the marketing competition for the prospect's consumer dollars is fierce. The prospect is usually exposed to dozens of ads for basically the same product/service. Obviously, he or she is not going to take 'action' on every single ad. How do 'you' insure that they will respond to YOUR marketing piece and take the specific action you intended? Certainly, not by 'assuming' that they will 'know' or 'figure out' what you want them to do. In order for a business owner to tell prospects exactly what action to take next, the business owner must know what that action should be.

CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION
No one wants is to feel pressured. Whether it's true or not, the average prospect 'assumes' that they'll get a 'high-pressured' sales pitch if they call you. Most do not want to risk this pain. Therefore, the 'Call for More Information' tag is almost always ignored. While 'some' prospects may not have a problem responding to this 'vague' directive, the majority do. If you doubt this . . . try putting it at the bottom of your marketing pieces. You'll soon be convinced that few prospects, if any, respond to the 'Call for More Information' marketing mistake.

FOCUSING ON YOU INSTEAD OF YOUR CUSTOMER
It seems natural to tell your prospects about you and your company. We're proud of what we do and how we do it and we 'assume' that our prospects will be impressed and motivated to take action. But too often the prospect really thinks 'So what?' , 'Big deal.' or 'Who cares?'

Of course, your marketing materials should include background information about you and your company and/or specifications about your product/service. But the key is that this should be 'supportive' information, not your 'primary' marketing message. It's a costly marketing mistake to think that prospects 'care' about the same things you care about. They rarely do.

However, they do care deeply about something entirely different. Once you know what that is, and you address it powerfully and clearly in your marketing, you will begin to draw prospects to you like a magnet.