The five major marketing mistakes that CEOs are prone to make

Most entrepreneurs are proficient in hardware, software, and related businesses, and some entrepreneurs are not experts in the industry, of course. But marketing and http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/30722.html "> Public relations are two very detail-oriented areas where entrepreneurs make mistakes when they are slightly inattentive.

At the age of 18, I became a public relations firm, providing advisory services to a number of startups, and I am willing to share five of the marketing mistakes that companies often make.

1. Treat a competitor as an enemy

Do not think of the larger rivals as enemies in the areas you are prepared to enter, and you can think of them as a resource.

When I created the Peppercomm company, I knew that my budding company would not pose a threat to the titans of the industry, so I often invited CEOs of big companies out for a drink. There are two main purposes to do so, to let them know the business I started, and, in addition, to remain humble and seek development advice from them. Because my company is very small, they will feel that it will not bring them conflict. Some of the larger competitors in the industry really gave me a lot of help and offered me a lot of new business to bring in profits.

I am very grateful to my competitors, at the launch of our new business, I not only invited them, but also sent them a bottle of good wine.

2. Working with the wrong charities

Many start-ups believe that if they are positive about doing good, they will reap the rewards, but they tend to look for a local or Home-grown charity, and eventually the reality will crush their ideals. This is also one of the mistakes.

Few entrepreneurs think of charities or non-profit organizations as strategic partners of the business. The author's company worked as a gym representative and a veteran organization. If the veterans ' organization recommends a customer to become a member of the gym, the gym will donate 10 cents for every dollar it consumes. This is clearly a win-win partnership.

3. Believe the Hype

Most start-ups assume that their products and services will be available for immediate media headlines once they are launched. In fact, when doing marketing and advertising, companies should be as careful as other businesses.

In the beginning, you can choose some local media, or online and trade media, to talk about their own entrepreneurial story, which is best to attach some of the company's qualifications, if some of the company won some awards also can add points. After that, if you can confirm that the company's products are really good, they are different. Then let the company's internal PR team contact the editors of national commercial publications. While this does not guarantee anything, it will greatly increase your chances of success.

4. Wrong treatment of the media

Some entrepreneurs always want the media to think of them as an important person, but they lack respect for journalists, and they treat their clients in a different way. The author once saw a hurried entrepreneur decide to cancel a television interview at the last second, and finally his public relations advisor told him that the TV media had no interest in him, and that countless media relationships were destroyed.

For enterprises, journalists are very important. If you are recruiting people, or chasing millions of of dollars in a big single contract, be sure to use the same attitude towards reporters. Moreover, must not casually cancel with the reporter's meeting.

5. Constantly changing your strategy

Many entrepreneurs succeed because they can cope with many people at the same time. From a management standpoint, this ability is admirable, but in marketing, the situation is completely different. In order to build attention, credibility, and ultimately respect for the user, a start-up must have a clear and consistent strategy, so don't blindly chase new projects.

As an example: the author of the company used to be a very smart and very popular start-up consulting company in the Wall Street Journal for a piece of coverage, the company in Cambridge, the company chief executive was very happy at first, but this is not the whole story. The chief executive, who was listening to the National Public radio program on his way to work, suddenly had a sudden whim and decided to redistribute the entire PR budget and put his money on the traffic radio.

But what was the final result? The chief executive was embarrassed and even ashamed to hear his company's messages, as their commercials were sandwiched between drug ads to treat male erectile dysfunction and some local car dealership ads. In the end, he had to be timid to ask us if we were going to get back to the original plan, and we did it, but everything had to start from the beginning.