This article is longish and I apologize in advance. I have much passion about this subject, because it hinders the success of many a Small Business. I am asking you to please bear with my little rant. For the past month, we have been discussing common marketing questions that all entrepreneurs are afraid to ask. Both Marketing and Advertising have done a great disservice to Small Business by not clearly defining their roles, and by creating endless battles. When big companies have trouble moving product? The Marketing Dept. blames the Advertising Dept., and Advertising in turn blames Marketing. When small companies have trouble moving product? They often blame the advertiser. Let’s clarify the roles of each discipline to help us to build a better business, and clear up some of these misconceptions.

I listened to a podcast a while back about gaining connection and traction in your business, from yet another social media expert. Social Media is certainly the wild, wild west, and the next talk show will surely feature anyone packing some new idea. “Your business is nothingwithout sales,” he yelled. “At the end of every business day, you should stop to ask how many new visitors did we get on our website, and how many conversions did we make today?” His customers were not people. They were notches on his belt.

Wow. I wondered how many of the people listening were buying into this and falling off their brand wagon at that very moment. “Your business is nothingwithout sales”? Really now. Herein lies the shootout at the not-so-OK Corral. . . the shootout between daily task lists vs. meaningful work. This expert’s attitude is the real reason marketing and advertising does not work for small business. It is backward thinking.

I would like to share with you, from 26 years or experience helping the small entrepreneur, thee five biggest misconceptions we see in small business marketing and how you can reframe your thinking and avoid these errors. Let’s jump right in.

1. The first misconception, (and it is a biggie!) is that many, many entrepreneurs believe that the primary purpose of marketing is about making sales. Get ready. This may be shocking. The primary purpose of marketing is not sales. As Seth Godin says, the primary purpose of marketing is to create something worth talking about. Marketing is about creating a product as an art–a better product than has ever been made before, with a specific reason and for one specific audience. One. In short, real marketing makes a product that makes a difference in the lives of the persons who buy it. If marketing has done its job, no arm twisting is required to get anyone to buy. If you have already created and planned and packaged something of indisputable value to a specific group of people, it isn’t hard to find those people who want the product. Advertising simply collects on those efforts. If you cannot find customers, it is not advertising’s fault. Go back, and reevaluate your marketing plan.

2. The second misconception: everyone will love our product because we do. When my son was about three years old, he would bring me gifts. Sometimes he would bring me a bug. Sometimes he would bring me a fistful of mud with dandelions. He was giving me his best. I loved it, of course, because I am his Mom. But in his childlike passion, he thought I would like it because he liked it.

Many small businesses market in the same childish way. I hear them say confidently, “Everyone will love this product”. They only wish it were so because they have to pay the mortgage. Later, they will be asking, “Why isn’t anyone buying my product? I’m trying so hard!”. They have never stopped to ask if anyone does like the product or ensure it is better than the alternative. If you are not delivering a product worth believing in, it is not advertising’s fault.

3.The third misconception: a true entrepreneur sets up shop then people come in the door. No one is going to walk in the door. No one owes you a living. Just because you sell something does not mean anyone, not your friends and family and not even your past customers for that matter, have any obligation to buy from you. Even if you tell them about it weekly in your weekly email newsletter. Well, I take that back. Maybe your Mom will buy from you.

We are no longer in the age of scarcity. We have so many choices, that no one wants your advertising or wants to know about your products. They already have something like it. You need to be ten times better than the alternative to get them to change to your brand. Rather than waiting for customers, we must produce our best work, get it out there and then see if it changes anything for anyone. If no one is revolutionized by your product, we need to fix the product. If it is not selling, it is not advertising’s fault.

4. The fourth misconception is believing that everyone is your customer. Your job as an entrepreneur is not to make a product for everyone. A one-size-fits-all product is attractive to no one. (When was the last time you bought a one-size-fits-all anything?) Our job as true entrepreneurs is to make something that matters to enough people that they will talk about it to their friends. If they are not talking about you, it is not advertising’s fault.

And 5. The last misconception? Entrepreneurs forget that markets are now conversations. Gone are the days of television and radio and newspaper advertising that talks at you. Markets are now places where your customers are talking with you and to you. The value of marketing is in those connections. The more connections you have, the better. If your customers are not talking with you, then you have not given them anything to talk about. It is not advertising’s fault.

How I wish that this social media expert had said, “At the end of every business day, you should stop to ask how many new people did we get a chance to help today?”. Or perhaps to ask, “Did we do any meaningful work today that made a difference to anyone?” This expert was oh so wrong. 

 Business is nothing without conversions? Without likes? Without sales? No, no, and no. Your business is NOTHING without a product that makes a difference.

That is this week’s Imagination Hat.

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