The 3 Common Mistakes Hurting Your Small Business Marketing Campaign

Have you ever had one of those days where you sat down at your desk… confused about what to do next? You stare at your computer, hoping an email comes in with some good news - maybe a new prospect ready to sign on the dotted line.

Have you ever felt frustrated that you or your sales team’s calendar isn’t as full as you need it to be?

If that's you, you've probably wondered how some people seem to manage to get tons of quality leads and clients. So why when it comes to you or your marketing team, is it like pulling teeth?

In this blog post, I'm going to share with you the answer to that. From the businesses we’ve worked here at LinkedSelling with we’ve identified that it often comes down to three common mistakes too many business owners and marketers fall into.

Every business owner, entrepreneur, service provider, or consultant faces choices and it’s those choices that determine the success of your business and, frankly, your life.

I don't know about you, but I've never been a fan of having to deal with -

• Lost opportunities
• Wasted time and money on things that didn’t work
• Starting from scratch everyday
• Trying to figure out where to go next, neglecting other parts of the business in the meantime
• Staying in the same place month after month, or even year after year.

You work too hard to be wasting time on things that aren't pushing your business forward. So let's skip over the guesswork, and set you on the path to get better results from your marketing initiatives.

And by results, I mean leads and clients.

But First...How I Learned The Hard Way

These days I’m able to grow my business, and help my clients make millions because I have a plan and a laser focus on the things that give me the greatest return. But before I saw any success, I spent a lot of time in the trenches.

I worried about what would happen next. And it's no wonder, I kept jumping from one tactic to another, using my resources on the wrong things and I wasn’t gaining any traction. In fact, it felt like I was going backwards some days.

But that's before I discovered what I'm about to let you in on…

Unfortunately… it’s an all-too-common story...

• According to Bloomberg, roughly only 2 out of 10 businesses survive their first 18 months.
• From there, according to our own survey of thousands of business owners, 88% of businesses that are still alive... are on the cashflow roller coaster, struggling to keep things running every month
• And long-term, only a small percentage of businesses ever get to the million dollar mark.

These are the facts. And while they may sound bleak, there is a way to stack the odds more in your favor.

If you want to thrive - not just survive… to meet your goals and live the life you want…

You need to understand the #1 reason why most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t meet their goals, even though we are all more than capable of it…

It’s focusing our time, money, and effort on the wrong things.

After all, if you knew the RIGHT things to focus on... then of course you’d succeed. But you don’t have a crystal ball, so the next best thing is understanding what NOT to do by studying lots of businesses that have come before you. And that’s a big part of what my company does, to bring solutions to our clients.

And from our work with thousands of clients that we’ve helped over the last decade, we’ve found that there are three common mistakes that we see all the time. Let’s dive in...

3 Mistakes Businesses Must Avoid At All Costs

#1 Focusing on the wrong strategies, or on too MANY strategies

How can you tell if you're falling into this trap? The main symptom is that you’re likely spending too much time and money trying to squeeze results out while neglecting other areas you should be working on. This is how too many people fall into overwhelm. And if you're in that boat, you’re doing stuff that’s not generating a return.

In my experience, every minute you spend on marketing needs to be focused on getting more sales appointments, clients, or customers for your business while you are in early stage growth.

Everything else… branding… engagement… etc. is secondary. It’s like a homeless person spending money on a nice watch.

Sure… it looks nice on your wrist. But you’re still hungry and getting rained on. In today’s world there are TOO many voices and vendors trying to get to you and your marketing dollars. You need a proven plan that will give you clarity and results.

I can’t stress this enough, unless you are Apple, or Amazon, or even Gary Vaynerchuk, you need to focus solely on having more conversations with more top-notch prospects. That’s what moves the needle. And this leads me to the 2nd big mistake I see businesses make...

#2 Focusing Your Resources On The Wrong Areas

This is a symptom of following the wrong strategies… and it causes a lot of businesses to suffer. Following the wrong strategies sucks up resources that could be better for other important aspects of running a business. When I say resources, I’m not just talking money. Sure, you’ll waste money. But you’ll also waste your time and your team’s time. The opportunity cost here is staggering.

This often leads to trying to overcome your sales problem with brute force. Overspending on ads, spending months on complicated funnels, and writing mountains of content. A simple solution is to outsource the work so you can see the outcomes you want and still have your time.

And finally...

#3 Focusing on the wrong metrics

It’s easy to feel the allure of “vanity” metrics like likes, shares, video views, etc., but how does it help your sales?

The most important thing to have a clear picture of is leads, appointments and clients. That’s it. Anything else is a distraction and will pull you away from the outcomes you want.

When combined in a deadly trifecta, these mistakes lead to overspending of both your money and your valuable time on things that don’t bring results.

Things changed for me when I laser-focused my resources in a way that got me a real return. I finally had the time and the means to attract & service clients and run a business, instead of running on the hamster wheel.

The best part is, when you understand how to focus on the right things...when you avoid these 3 mistakes, you will start to see real, consistent growth in your business. It’s worked for hundreds of our clients. It can do the same for you, too.

How To Apply This In Your Business

If you know the frustration that comes from the kind of overwhelm these mistakes cause with little results in return, I want to save you from all that grief and give you a different path to consider.

You started a business for a reason, whether it’s to have more control over your time, to have control over how much money you make, to build something that lasts, to make an impact…

And we can help you make that happen.

We have different solutions that help businesses like yours solve these kinds of problems and help you meet your goals. Depending on the right option for you, we can help you handle the work it takes to get leads and appointments so you can focus on what’s important. But we'll need to talk with you to figure out which approach would work best for your business.

Book your appointment here.

Together we’ll:

• Look at your business to see what is or isn't working.
• Identify what's possible for your business in the next 6-12 months.
• Discover the bottleneck that is holding your business back from growing...and we all have at least one.
• And discuss the best options for our team to help you put the pieces in place to attract qualified leads and new clients month after month. That could mean completely doing it FOR you… or simply getting you started, getting it set up for you, and then handing it off to you or your team.

All without going through trial-and-error of testing strategies as you try to find the right one…

OR trying to figure things out while it sucks your time, money, and motivation dry.

If you'd like to speak to my Director of Client Strategy to find clarity in your business and learn how you can implement a strategy, click here to book an appointment now:

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