As a salesperson, life can be an endless stream of unreturned calls, emails, and reach-outs. Sometimes cold-calls result in sales; sometimes they don’t.

This week, we reached out to 25 potential customers for our company—sometimes to brands that needed OBVIOUS help, and sometimes to brands that look amazing—have an incredible brand, look, messaging, and have what appears to be all the strategic “t’s” crossed and the “i’s” dotted.

Guess what? The brands that look amazing actually take time to respond – even if it’s with a “no—but thanks for reaching out.”

Don’t allow your brand to become a brand of non-communication and non-excellence. It may feel like no big deal to not respond to a potential customer or vendor because they are too small or you don’t need them—but we think it equals DEMISE.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

by Leaha and Mike

1. BE UNDERFUNDED

Market your product without spending money. Try really hard to organically get messaging out…all the while wondering why a competitor’s product is kicking your butt just because their marketing budget is 5x or 10x or 20x larger than yours.

2. SKIP THE MARKETING PLAN

Market planning is a total waste of time. It’s much easier, and way more fun, to just run around and try lots of stuff in a variety of markets. It will be exciting, and you’ll gain a lot of knowledge for your next venture.

3. PICK A CROWDED MARKET

Hey – if there’s lots of products there, it must be a hot market, right?

4. BRING A “ME-TOO” PRODUCT TO MARKET

Investing in product development can be costly. It’s much easier to find something that people are already buying and duplicate it.

5. CREATE YOUR LOGOS, BYLINES, AND GRAPHICS YOURSELF

Better yet, get your brother-in-law who can spell marketing and has an Apple computer to do it! Alternatively, find an offshore marketing agency that has no US presence do it because they are cheap.

6. IGNORE YOUR AUDIENCE AND THEIR OPINIONS

Skip surveys on their buying habits. No one cares what strangers think anyhow. I mean you made the product and your family likes it so it must be good, right?

7. WASTE MONEY ON STUPID STUFF

Like localized sponsorships and a flashy neon sign for your building. The concept of a national brand really doesn’t matter. What matters is what your friends and family think when they see your company logo around town.

8. IGNORE DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

Assume the stuff will sell on its own. All you need to do is put it on your website and people will buy. Distributers cost money, and point-of-sale displays and co-op advertising are a waste of money.

9. DO NOT HIRE A MARKETING PROFESSIONAL

What fun is it to hire someone who actually knows what should be done and can help do it?

Seriously – the opposite of ALL of these points will be a home run for your brand. We do want to emphasize the real killer for successful product launching and marketing strategy execution that you should pay attention to the most...

DON’T BE UNDERFUNDED

and

DON’T TRY TO DO IT YOURSELF UNLESS YOU ARE A MARKETING PROFESSIONAL