Six Timeless Marketing Blunders

Blunder 1: Building Better Mousetraps. The main reason so many start-up companies/products/services fail is the "building-better-mousetrap" thinking that does not take the customer into account. Blunder 2: Selling Too Much Sizzle, Not Enough Steak. An effective strategy requires both quality and aggressive marketing-steak and sizzle. When companies lose sight of the physical, psychological and intangible needs of the customer, they are asking for trouble. Blunder 3: Oversubscribing to the Conventional Wisdom.Today's conventional wisdom can overlook or conceal clues to the future by misjudging concepts, innovation, and human potential. Blunder 4: Putting Too Much Faith in Forecasting.Some of the world's most revolutionary innovations would have been delayed or discarded had the innovator listened to predictions for the future. Blunder 5: Practicing Chinese Marketing. Strategies based on preposterous assumptions about a company's ability to sell to vast numbers of people that do not consider consumer purchasing power or need are self-deceptive and illogical. Blunder 6: Confusing Financial/Marketing Cause and Effect Financial expediency for the short term should not interfere with building a competitive company. A company is performing well when it is highly profitable over the long term, but is functioning poorly when policies are being implemented that weaken the company for the future.