Are you Ego Centric in your Ads?

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Over the next few months I will discuss some common mistakes small to mid sized businesses make in their marketing. If I mention something you are doing as a "mistake" - let's talk about it more.

These mistakes will be in no particular order of importance - mostly they come up as I encounter them and I bring them to your attention.

Mistake 1 - Remember who the Target Audience is.

Don’t build a website or advertising piece that you love, one that has lots of self serving information and "back patting" about you and your company, A piece like this may engage you - but you are not the target audience.

Does your advertising or your website focus too much on your company? Does your site include lots of pictures of company executives, pictures of your building, a long winded - verbose mission statement, your company's corporate history? Are there a lot of self serving statements from the CEO?

While self promotion is always a good thing, overdoing it is never good. All of this content mentioned in the previous paragraph is great on your “about us” page, but it's important to remember your potential customer is not as interested in your company as you are. In fact they aren't interested in your company at all. What they are interested in first and most importantly is themselves and what you can do for them. The center of your potential customer's world is them, not you.

You must consider your customers’ goals when they arrive to your website or view your ads. Are they there to get directions, to find the item they need, to browse your services? More than likely they are there for tangible information on the good and services you offer that will solve a problem or make them happier in their lives. Your company bio may help them to have confidence in you or to "seal the deal" if they are unsure about you and your authority in the field, but it's not what they want to see all over your site.

So if your website is ego centric and you want to shift the focus but are not sure how, contact us - we can help.

Sidewalk Designs offers strategic marketing and marketing planning to small to mid sized companies. We don't just "do web sites" we create memorable identities for our clients on the web and in real life. Contact us for more information and watch for upcoming installments of this series.

Want to learn how to fix your small business marketing so you attract more clients and increase your sales and profits? Give me a call at 800-279-2971 or send an email!

Is there an issue that you would like Dawn to address? If so contact Dawn at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and tell her what you're thinking.