In addition to guest posting on the UpCity blog, Caffeine Marketing is featured as one of the Top Marketing Consultants in the United States. Check out their profile here.

Great companies shouldn’t be stuck with marketing that doesn’t work.

A lot of people waste enormous amounts of money on marketing that doesn’t work and rightfully feel frustrated. This article will help you avoid some costly mistakes that most companies make so that you can make marketing profitable.

If you avoid these mistakes and do what I’m suggesting, your company will grow, you’ll beat out the competition, and you’ll have peace of mind. I’m only asking you one thing; share it with other great businesses who deserve to take their company to the next level.

1. Not Defining the Problem You Solve

People only pay attention to information that will help them survive and thrive. The human brain determines whether or not to pay attention within the first eight seconds. A goldfish has a nine-second attention span. So, if you’re selling to goldfish, you have an advantage.

You must make sure you clearly introduce the problem your product solves. If you look at the beginning of the document, you will notice we offer a philosophical, external, and finally, an internal problem that people encounter. Let people know which problem you solve.

2. Communicating the Wrong Message

People need to hear information up to eight times to adequately understand it. If you are communicating varying messages, people will never realize why they need to buy your product or service.

Communicating differing messages is the equivalent of changing your company logo over and over. Eventually, you will no longer be able to determine which logo represents your company. Your company must have one clear message that communicates what problem you solve and how it will make customers lives better. You might think that repeating yourself is a bad thing when, in reality, that is the goal. Your marketing is an exercise of guiding potential customers in memorization.

3. Choosing Cute and Clever Over Clear and Concise

People do not buy the best products: they buy the products they can understand the quickest. We believe the best products should win since it’s the best option for the consumer. For you to win, you must communicate with clarity.

If your website and advertising aren’t clear as day, you will lose to the competition. Cute and clever seems great, but they come second to clear.  Here is a great litmus test to detect if your message is clear. If you showed your site to a 5th grader (who doesn’t know your company) for just 5 seconds, could they then repeat back to you what you sell and how it makes their life better? If you’re not crystal clear, you’re losing sales.

4. Forgetting About the Funnel

Will you marry me? Too soon? It’s okay, I’m married anyway, but this is what most companies do when asking customers to buy from you. They don’t allow customers to build a relationship with you and go on a few dates before asking them the big question.

When you ask someone to buy your product or service, this is called a direct call to action. This call to action is essential in getting people to buy your product or service. Most people stop there, though. What your website needs is a transitional call to action. This step gives potential customers a chance to provide you with their information in exchange for something of value to them. Often this comes in the form of a PDF, free guide, or video series.

5. Not Painting a Clear Picture of Success

People don’t know what’s in it for them unless you tell them. Do your website and marketing materials show people using your product or service and enjoying it? Do you showcase the benefits of working with you, and what people will experience?

You cannot over-communicate how people’s lives will benefit from your product as long as you deliver on it.

6. Making Social Media All About You

This idea may seem counterintuitive to some of you, but the more you talk about yourself, the likelihood of customers buying from you goes down.

This concept is especially true of social media marketing. A strong call to action is great, but you should be providing people value through your social media to grow your audience. Your social media should be all about helping get your target customer what they want. They are the hero of the story, not you.

We do this for our clients not only when we run their social media, but also when we create social media ads for them. In creating those ads, we are making the customer the hero of the story.

7. Not Outsourcing When Possible

What we’ve found time and time again is that companies are way too close to their products, services, and brand to communicate what they do clearly in a way that moves people to action. The reason for this is called the curse of knowledge. If you are an expert in your field or craft, you have a 9+ out of 10 knowledge of your industry. This knowledge is excellent for being a practitioner but bad for marketing.

To communicate simply, you communicate at a 6 (possibly a level 5) out of ten. The problem is that people make buying decisions at levels 2 and 3. When you outsource with someone like us you can have a clear message, a website you love, and Facebook ads that convert. Just imagine someone else doing all that hard work for you without the headache! Of course, it’s also important to choose the right partner.

By keeping an eye on these seven potential money wasters, you’ll ensure that your marketing efforts provide the most return on investment!