Marketing warnings: 50 on file
Don’t make these 50 mistakes.
Learning them here is cheaper than learning them with your own money. Read the list, then go do some marketing.
Don’t make this mistake
Don’t wait until it’s perfect. Get it good, get it out, and improve it.
The full list
50 mistakes- 01
Don’t wait until it’s perfect.
Perfection is the easiest way to never launch anything. Get it good, get it out, see what happens, and improve it.
- 02
Don’t underestimate what AI can do for you.
Use it to brainstorm, write, rewrite, build offers, write headlines and critique your work. You no longer need a marketing department to get started.
- 03
Don’t expect to be 100% happy with your own work.
You’ll always find another word to change. At some point, done is better than perfect.
- 04
Don’t buy marketing items and then hoard them.
If you buy 500 pencils, give away all 500. They’re not inventory. They’re advertising.
- 05
Don’t save the “good stuff” for important customers.
The person who seems unimportant today may introduce you to your biggest customer tomorrow.
- 06
Don’t give people crap just because it’s cheap.
Cheap can be great. Junk isn’t. A pen that doesn’t write tells people your company buys garbage.
- 07
Don’t pick a marketing item because YOU like it.
Ask whether your customer will like it. You’re not the recipient.
- 08
Don’t give everybody the same thing.
Tape measures for contractors. Flying discs for summer camp. Golf towels at the tournament. Match the product to the audience.
- 09
Don’t put your logo on something nobody wants.
Your logo doesn’t magically make a bad product useful.
- 10
Don’t make your logo so big that you ruin the product.
A great shirt with tasteful branding gets worn. A walking billboard stays in the drawer.
- 11
Don’t confuse expensive with effective.
A $100 gift isn’t 400 times better than a 25-cent pencil. The right item for the right person wins.
- 12
Don’t confuse cheap with a bargain.
If nobody keeps it, uses it or remembers it, even a nickel was too much.
- 13
Don’t send an email just to send an email.
Give them a reason to care: something useful, something new, or an offer.
- 14
Don’t write emails like a corporation if you’re not one.
“We are pleased to announce…” Stop. Write like a human being talking to another human being.
- 15
Don’t bury the point.
If you’re offering 20% off, say it. If you want the appointment, ask for it.
- 16
Don’t give people five calls to action.
Call us. Follow us. Download this. Watch our video. Pick the one action you actually want.
- 17
Don’t assume people remember you.
You think about your company every day. Your customer doesn’t.
- 18
Don’t market once and declare that it didn’t work.
One email isn’t a campaign. One postcard isn’t direct mail. Repetition matters.
- 19
Don’t stop following up because someone didn’t answer.
People are busy and emails get buried. No response isn’t always no.
- 20
Don’t keep emailing someone who clearly doesn’t want to hear from you.
Follow-up is good. Being a pain in the ass isn’t.
- 21
Don’t forget your existing customers while chasing new ones.
Someone who already trusts you is easier to reach than a stranger.
- 22
Don’t be afraid to ask for the order.
It’s okay to say, “Would you like us to get this started?”
- 23
Don’t forget to ask for referrals.
If somebody loves what you do, make it easy for them to introduce you.
- 24
Don’t forget to ask for reviews.
Happy customers say nothing unless you ask. Make asking part of your routine.
- 25
Don’t make people work to contact you.
Phone, email, link, QR code or form, right in front of them.
- 26
Don’t ask for too much information too soon.
Nobody should need to hand over their annual revenue to read a free book. Ask for less. Give them what they came for.
- 27
Don’t make your quote form a homework assignment.
Contact info, quantity, deadline, basic details, logo. Ask the rest afterward.
- 28
Don’t make people search 10,000 products.
Curate. Show plumbers plumber ideas. Show golf tournaments golf products. Help people buy.
- 29
Don’t make price a mystery when you can avoid it.
“Usually $3–$6 each” beats CALL FOR PRICING.
- 30
Don’t promise a price that isn’t really a price.
Quantity, decoration, setup and shipping all change the cost. Be honest about estimates.
- 31
Don’t automatically discount.
Free delivery, an upgrade or a bonus can beat a lower price and protect your margin.
- 32
Don’t assume everyone wants a deal.
Some customers care more about speed, quality, reliability or not having to worry about it.
- 33
Don’t market the feature when the customer cares about the result.
Nobody cares that your machine has 14 stations. They care that 1,000 shirts show up right and on time.
- 34
Don’t try to sound smarter than your customer.
Clear beats clever. Simple beats complicated.
- 35
Don’t copy your competitor just because they’re doing something.
They may have no idea what they’re doing either.
- 36
Don’t blindly trust AI.
Check names, facts, dates, prices, links and claims before you publish anything.
- 37
Don’t let AI erase your personality.
If everything sounds like generic AI copy, you’ve traded one problem for another.
- 38
Don’t ask AI only to create. Ask it to criticize.
Give it your email and ask, “What’s wrong with this?” Give it your offer and ask why someone would ignore it.
- 39
Don’t spend three hours on something AI can help you do in ten minutes.
Your time has a cost too.
- 40
Don’t believe every marketing “expert.”
What worked for someone selling online courses may be worthless for a plumber. Test it on your own business.
- 41
Don’t chase every new social platform.
Go where your customers actually are.
- 42
Don’t measure success with likes alone.
200 views and three orders beats 10,000 views and zero customers.
- 43
Don’t forget to tell people what you do.
Clever branding is wonderful until nobody understands what you sell.
- 44
Don’t forget your contact information on the damn thing.
Beautiful postcard. Great offer. No phone number. It happens.
- 45
Don’t print 10,000 pieces before testing 500.
Test the message, offer and audience before the big commitment.
- 46
Don’t keep doing something just because you already paid for it.
If it isn’t working, change it.
- 47
Don’t throw out an idea because the first version flopped.
Maybe the offer, timing, headline or audience was wrong, not the idea.
- 48
Don’t forget timing.
Sunscreen in July makes sense. Calendars in February, not so much.
- 49
Don’t forget the customer after the sale.
Thank them. Follow up. Stay in touch. The next order is easier than the first.
- 50
Don’t spend so much time planning that you never actually market.
Close the spreadsheet. Stop changing the font. Stop asking AI for version #37. Send the damn thing.
- Pick an idea.
- Send the email.
- Make the call.
- Mail the letter.
- Order the pencils.
- Give them all away.
- Do some marketing.
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