The Biggest Mistake Marketers Make Every Day

As I look back on 2008 and look forward to 2009, I’m trying to reflect on some key learnings that I’ve gathered over the years. Not just the past year, but little gems that have always stuck with me in life and in my career. One of these little nuggets keeps popping into my head. So, I thought I’d write about it. Several years ago, a friend and mentor taught me something and it’s stuck with me all these years. The benefits of proper customer segmentation is worth it’s weight in gold. But honestly, few do it well, if at all.

I’ve been reading Godin’s Small Is The New Big. I love Seth Godin. Maybe it’s my East Coast DNA or something, but his work really speaks to me. I’ve got a bit of criticism of him lately, but that’s another post for another time.

In any event, he talks of successful marketing being a conversation. But, the conversation has become very one sided lately. I couldn’t agree more. There’s a million reasons for this. A two-way conversation between customers and companies is expensive. A two way conversation can be difficult. A two way conversation can leave a company with really nothing of value to say. That’s why the conversation rarely happens.

The biggest mistake marketers make every day is not allowing the conversation happen at all. They do this by not properly segmenting their target audiences, or even worse, trying to segment customers or audiences by some arbitrary product category.

To put it simply: I am not “mobile”, or “notebook” or “plasma” or what ever other product category companies come up with. How does the conversation start with a prospective customer when they are placed in these weird little product categories that can be easily defined by product, marketing and merchandising teams.

If the conversation is supposed to start there, it will fall on deaf ears. Clearly defining who a firm will speak to, merchandise to, problem solve for…is the cornerstone to effective marketing. The smaller the niche the better. Sorry to say, this is more art than science, and it’s an art that is dying.