If you are looking for a way to make your marketing more effective, read this.

10 Most Common Marketing Mistakes We See

1. The business name doesn't communicate anything about what the company does.
2. The business is not marketing to the right people (the ones that would buy from them).
3. The business models what they do after their competitors, instead of finding their own unique voice.
4. The business puts too much information in their marketing (that no one will read).
5. The business has wrong information in their marketing materials.
6. The employees can't explain what they do in a clear, concise, compelling manner.
7. The logo is not professional looking or there is no clear-cut standard as to how it is used (blue on some materials and green on others).
8. The marketing materials do not look like they come from the same company (mish-mash of looks) and there is no clear message or call to action.
9. The website is not effectively capturing leads.
10. There is no marketing plan or if there is one, it is not followed.

Is it possible you are making some of these very common mistakes, too?

There is an easy fix. The One-Minute Marketing Makeover template is a great way to start.  Of course, to get the best ROI, we recommend a full marketing audit (see other templates on myMarketingGuide.com) or time with a Marketing Specialist to work with you to create a blueprint for your marketing.  Details...

Marketing Audits

There are two types of marketing plan audits.  The first is the comprehensive which should occur at least one a year and then there are the One-Minute Marketing “mini” audits which should happen at minimum every quarter.

We developed the "mini" audit for clients that were looking for a simple way to check the effectiveness of their marketing plans and budgets.  The “mini” marketing audit is stripped down to the bare essentials and the goal is to create a task list which can be done quickly and easily and yield results right away.

How does it work?  Just like 1-2-3:
1.    You answer 10 questions in about a minute.
2.    The questions guide you in creating a Mini Marketing Audit Answers and Task List
3.    You put your list to work.  Hand it to everyone on your team.

 Why does this template work?
-Focuses only on what clients tell us works.
-A template makes it foolproof.
-Provides an example that you can model your plan after.

In many cases you could implement your plan in a day to a week, depending on the complexity and availability of the resources you need.  The "mini" audit approach is effective since a small amount of work often has tremendous results and help sell through the bigger, more complex ideas like new product launches, re-doing a website, etc, down the road.

To download this template, please visit the templates area of this site.  A sample template is free for site members and the full template can be downloaded for just $9.99 .  For more information about a Marketing Audit for your business, give us a call at 888-215-0820 or click here.

By Samantha Rufo, nxtConcepts, Ltd
nxtConcepts Ltd is a next generation company using innovative ideas, proven marketing programs, and cutting edge technology to help build business.   For more information on anything in this article or nxtConcepts, go to www.nxtConcepts.com  .

Need help implementing a PPC program?  We've got two suggestions:

a) Check out our free marketing templates and tools on this site.  There's ton's of them.  You might want to bookmark the site now, you could be here awhile.
b) Have someone do it for you, check here for options http://www.mymarketingguide.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=27_40

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