Do you make these mistakes in marketing? Some time ago I set out to write a list of “397 Marketing Mistakes Most Companies Make” as a promotional piece for my consultancy and got to 84 before collapsing from exhaustion. Rather than letting the list rust in my files, I offer it to you as a health check for your marketing. Who knows, there might be one or two mistakes you make.

[ ] Advertising without capturing leads. You buy the airtime or adspace – why not maximise ROI and capture sales leads by making an offer and including a response device. It is not uncool to sell stuff.

[ ] Not mentioning the name of the product until the end of the TVC. The big reveal. Dramatic. And forgettable. You’ve got 30 seconds to make people aware of who is paying for the time and what they sell. “Big reveal” commercials have the highest ‘wrong attribution’ score – ie. they are often recalled as ads for the competition.

[ ] Renting mailing lists. This might be controvercial for a direct marketing practitioner to say, but most lists aren’t worth the disk space they occupy. Some are. Can you tell the difference? Renting lists is gambling, so stack the odds in your favour by sampling the list for accuracy by calling a number of people on the list  ¶ 8:09 AM