50 marketing mistakes / Mistake #01
Mistake #01 of 50Don’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.
What it costs you
Thinking about marketing isn’t marketing.
You think about your business in the shower. In the car. At two in the morning.
But planning to send an email isn’t sending an email.
Talking about starting an Instagram account isn’t posting anything.
And the website you’re still fixing isn’t bringing in anybody.
The biggest marketing mistake isn’t a bad logo. It’s doing nothing.
Waiting for perfect is just doing nothing with a better excuse.
A real example
Two plumbers
Two plumbers open in the same town at about the same time.
The first one wants to do everything right. He needs a website. But first he needs the perfect logo. Then business cards. Then a wrapped van.
The website takes four months because he keeps changing it. He can’t decide between two shades of blue.
The second one buys 250 refrigerator magnets with her name and number on them. Nothing fancy. After every job she asks, “Mind if I put this on your refrigerator?”
Her website is one page. She built it in an afternoon.
Winter comes. A pipe bursts.
Guess whose phone number is hanging on the refrigerator?
The first plumber didn’t do anything wrong. He just didn’t do anything.
Why it happens
Why it never goes out
Every week you wait, somebody else’s magnet goes up on that refrigerator.
Do this instead
Get it good. Get it out.
Send the email. See what happens. Change it. Send another one. A lot of marketing is something you learn by doing it. And whatever you planned to do, do more of it than you planned.
| If you planned to | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Call three old customers | Call ten. |
| Order 250 magnets | Hand out all 250. Their job is to leave your building. |
| Send one postcard | Don’t assume everybody saw it. Send another. |
| Post on social media | Don’t disappear for three months afterward. |
| Build the perfect website first | Build one page this afternoon. Fix it later. |
People can’t buy from a business they don’t know exists. So become known. And then stay known.
Do this today
- 1
Think of one person who has bought from you before but hasn’t heard from you in a while.
- 2
Send them a short, personal email or text. Thank them for their past business.
- 3
Tell them one thing you can help them with right now, and ask one simple question they can answer.
- 4
Hit send. Don’t polish it first.
You just did some marketing. That’s already more than you were doing ten minutes ago.
From the book
Chapter 1: Don’t Just Stand There. Do Something.
Starts on page 8. The whole chapter, plus 250+ ways to market your business, in the free book.
Download the free bookIdeas that fix it
Good enough beats not yet.
Idea 86 · book page 304Magnets$0.75–$2 eachOn the fridge right when the pipe bursts.Signs & DisplaysIdea 210 · book page 366Car Door Magnets$40–$100 per pairTurns your personal car into a moving ad.
Idea 133 · book page 328Yard Signs$2.72–$7.49 eachEvery job site becomes an ad to the neighbors.
Idea 158 · book page 340Basic T-Shirts$6–$15 eachAn advertisement people wear for years.$0Idea 5 · book page 264Reconnect With Past CustomersFreePast customers already know and trust you.
Idea 66 · book page 294Promotional Pens$0.30–$1.50 eachUseful, cheap, and passed from person to person.Want a plan you can start this week?
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