Lawn Care Deadly Mistake #2

I’m back again with another installment of the 7 Deadly Small Business Marketing Mistakes. Again, these are mistakes that I see many lawn care and landscaping businesses make as well, so pay special attention to these and do everything you can to avoid them like the plague.

If you remember from yesterday’s message, the first thing we talked about was the trap of trying to copy big business marketing tactics. You can’t afford to market like they do and in most cases, you don’t want to market like they do! A lot of what they do simply doesn’t work, especially for a small business that needs to get a pretty quick turnaround on your marketing dollars.

Today, we’ll talk about the second deadly mistake that most small businesses make when trying to market their product or service. This mistake, much like the first mistake, comes to us as a result of trying to copy what the ‘big boys’ do.

Mistake number two is: Confusing “Branding” with Marketing.

As defined by Websters.com, a brand is “a trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer.” Most of the advertising you see on television or in magazines is about building name recognition for a particular product or service.

Examples of this can be seen everyday in commercials, in magazines or newspaper, and even on the radio. The ads do little to motivate someone to buy. Instead they attempt to create awareness about a particular product or service.

While that’s fine for companies with deep pockets, that’s usually not the case for a small business struggling to build their customer base on a limited budget.

Branding can be an important part of a marketing plan, EVENTUALLY.

For a small business struggling to get customers through the door, any marketing that’s done should have a razor sharp focus on getting people in the door to buy your products. This is simply not possible through trying to build name recognition.

Another problem with branding-type advertising is that it can’t be tracked. As someone trying to build a business on a limited budget, you absolutely MUST be able to track your marketing activities. This is accomplished through direct response marketing, which allows you to test and track the results of your efforts.

So, how do you avoid making this mistake? In the upcoming lessons, we’ll talk about several other mistakes that are a direct result of doing ‘branding’ type marketing. I’ll also tell you how you can avoid making these mistakes and turn your marketing into a well-oiled machine.

I’ll be back tomorrow to share these insights and secrets so STAY TUNED!

Bookmark Me!