To Err Is Dangerous 8 marketing mistakes you can't afford to make

In virtually every area of business, entrepreneurs find pitfallsalong the way. Marketing is no exception. As the owner of abusiness that helps other businesses market themselves moreeffectively, I have spoken with hundreds of entrepreneurs aboutvarious promotional efforts. Regardless of their industries, timeand again I see owners of companies large and small making the samecostly mistakes. Avoid these mistakes, and you'll save energy,disappointment--and a substantial amount of money:

1. Putting all your eggs in one basket. If yourentire marketing budget is used on just one method of promotingyour business, you won't realize the highest return on yourinvestment. Diversifying your efforts will increase the frequencyand reach of your messages and stretch your marketing dollars.

2. Not measuring results. Measuring the results ofyour marketing efforts allows you to reinvest in vehicles that areworking--and ditch those that aren't. Try tactics like surveys,coded coupons, in-store response cards or focus groups to find outhow well your messages are being received.