Marketing Mistakes Clients Make

1. A penny saved is a penny earned:
a. The money boss makes the marketing decisions
b. Believing that not spending on advertising or PR is saving money
c. It seems so expensive so I am going to get the cheapest one OR
d. It seems so expensive so I am going to get the smallest quantity even though the cost per unit is almost double

So many entrepreneurs believe that the mere ingenuity of their idea is what will sell it. Most of them are right, but most of them also do not give any thought to how they are going to get that idea across to their target market. Just because an idea exists does not mean people know about it. Clients spend fortunes on setting up the most advanced operations with the most high-tech equipment and gadgetry and don’t even toss a quarter of an idea at how they are going to give this idea wings, how they are going to carry it across to the people they want to sell it to.
"The person who saves money by not advertising is like the man who stops the clock to save time."- Attributed to A Very Wise Man

2. I am the boss. Therefore I do everything the best
Including writing press releases and marketing material, despite the fact that there is a fully-fledged marketing department at my disposal to do it for me. Yes, you may have put your heart and soul into that new campaign or launch and, while you may have been the fire behind the company for the last twenty years, a press release is not your personal platform for sharing your expertise or thanking everyone you have ever had the pleasure of working with. Give a written or verbal brief and step back.

3. I placed an advert. Advertising doesn’t work
Yes, that is why advertising revenue has reached infinite trillions in terms of revenue generation the world over. Refer to point one. Did you let the money boss decide where to put the ad, how big it should be and where it should go? Did he also decide on a singular placement? Exactly. Advertising is a strange game, sure, but definitely one that has to be played properly. Consult a professional to get the most mileage out of your money when it comes to advertising.

4. The internet is the place to be. If I have a website I will make sales
Yes, you and the 300 billion plus other website owners out there. You have to make a bit more of an effort than that to be singled out. Find out about search engine optimisation, social media marketing and copy writing for the internet.

5. Editorial is not advertising
While great PR can get you good editorial in print, online and broadcast media it cannot get you free advertising. That fabulous package, special or promotion you are running doesn’t count as press release material and can’t be sent out as media release-worthy.

Creating Corporate Newsletters

Every company wants to send formal communication to its clients- to profile new services on offer, and to maintain some level of relationship going forward. While one of the objectives of the newsletter is to promote sales, its ability to direct users to your website, where other services and products are on offer, should not be underestimated.

Here are some key considerations when creating a newsletter:

Do your homework and preparationYour corporate database is one of your most valuable assets, and is only as valuable as your products and services are relevant to its contacts. Your database has got to be fine-tuned according to the contacts’ relationships with your company and has got to be updated regularly in order to be of the greatest use.

Learn to Speak the LingoFind out what your target audience is, what they like, and how and when they like it.

Size Does CountKeep the newsletter file size small. Large files take time to download and are unnecessary.

Choose A Format; Select A Back-UpHow are you going to send your newsletter out? Before you decide this, you should know:
Jpegs: may look better to the eye, but do not necessarily download, depending on the spam settings of the recipient. If they don’t, the recipient will just see a blank space.
PDFs: can only be sent out as attachments, giving your recipient an extra step to view the content. How sure are you of your relationship with your client- would they take the time?
Html: distributes a small file size but can be erratic in display, depending on the browser and settings of the recipient.
What you should be looking to do is cover as many bases as possible, and offer the option of something displaying in the body of the email, and either an attached file or a link to a web-page, should something go wrong with the emailed version.


Love at First SightDon’t send out ugly-looking stuff, simple. People are attracted to what looks good to the eye. If you aren’t completely sure about your own discretion, go for clean, simple and minimal, and ask yourself what you’d think of it in five years’ time- will it have dated?

Strike A BalanceBetween images and content. While much of your appeal lies in the manipulative qualities of good online copywriting, pictures truly do say a thousand words. Invest in decent, quality images that really do represent your business and who it appeals to, and use them to create visual associations with your company image.

All Roads Lead To…While your newsletter may be an important communication tool and branding device, it should be considered a channel to get web traffic to your site, so remember to link to your website as accurately as possible.