The 7 -- No 8 -- Deadly Sins of Marketing & the Surest Way to Boost Sales

Most of us have heard of the 7 deadly sins: Vanity, Anger, Envy, Lust, Greed, and Sloth & Gluttony. But did you know that these could be applied to marketing? In fact learning how these sins can negatively affect your marketing can be a great help.

We've also come up with an 8th sin, that is, in our belief, as big a sin as the other 7. We're saving this one for last. Over the next few weeks, we'll cover each of the 8 deadly sins and how they can kill your marketing and your company.

Deadly Marketing Sin #1 - Vanity

Vanity, one of the more seemingly subtle of the 7 deadly sins, is particularly dangerous when you're marketing a product or service.

One of the worst things a company can do is produce what we call “the vanity ad”. The main area where vanity rears its ugly head in the marketing arena is the vanity ad. These are TV commercials, print or other ads that are made mainly to appeal to the egos of the company owners. These ads have nothing to do with the consumer. They're not designed to appeal to any target market or to sell the product.

For example: Maybe the owner of the company likes Harley's. So their ad agency makes an ad with hogs everywhere. But the client is selling lipstick (or coffee cake or soda or anything but a motor cycle).

The executives and ad agency folks sit around the conference table smiling & clapping. It's a hit! With who? With the corporate execs. After all, that's who pays the bills right? Wrong. The customer pays the bills. And if your ad doesn't sell them, they won't pay.

So stay away from vanity ads & vanity campaigns & stick to what will appeal to your customers.

Toli Cefail

Toli Cefail is a veteran marketer for more than two decades. She is currently a principle of the leading online marketing firm In Touch Media Group (www.intouchmediagroup.com>).

The Surest Way to Boost Sales

If you have a small business and you are looking to boost your sales and make the public aware of your business, how do you going about doing this? There is one sure way that I know to boost sales and create awareness. It may not be sexy, but it WORKS!

The best way to "start" marketing any business is to develop a marketing plan. And before you decide you don't have the time or expertise to create a plan, I urge you to understand why it is so important.

Creating a plan will force you to determine who you want to make aware of your business - it really is not just "the public."

You need to identify who can most benefit from what you are selling. If it's a retail store, how far can you expect people to travel to do business with you? This will in part depend on what other stores can fill their same need. You also need to identify who these competitors are.

Creating a marketing plan will ensure you understand these basic facts BEFORE you do any marketing. Why is this important? Because it is the only way you can ensure your marketing will be effective.

No one wants to waste valuable marketing dollars. But that is exactly what many businesses do when they don't take the time to figure out exactly who they should be marketing to and what they should be saying.

Without this you are just doing "random" marketing and hoping someone will respond. Why not do "laser" marketing designed to reach exactly the type of people who are most likely to respond, and with a message that speaks directly to their needs?