by Leigh Goessl

Created on: November 06, 2009

Marketing is an essential part of running a business and weak marketing can help contribute to small business failure.

It doesn't matter whether the business is small or large, because all companies must reach out and try and connect with their desired markets or else they will have a difficult time reaching profitability. With no customers knowing a business is open, there will be little to no sales.

Enter marketing philosophies, principles and tactics. When planning marketing approaches it is important for the small business to know their audience, figure out ways to reach that audience and consider the timeliness of their advertising.

Any weaknesses in these areas can ultimately lead to failure if the small business owner isn't careful. It can be a costly mistake to incorrectly select a consumer market segment, choose the wrong advertising venues and pick the wrong time to pitch certain products or services.

Here are a few reasons as to why any deficiencies in these areas can help contribute to weak marketing:

*Not Knowing an Audience

The type of business will often decide what the best course of action where marketing is concerned. Before a small business opens they should have already done a market analysis and know who their targeted audience is.

Once that is determined the small business owner can search for the most effective and cost-efficient ways to deliver their marketing message in order to reach their desired audience. Not correctly assessing the right market segment is going to lead directly to weak marketing.

For instance, it is not worth any businesses' resources to market to audiences who have no use for the products or services being sold. It would be unwise for a toy store to target baby toys to teens or single men in their 20s; a smarter approach would be to target their sales pitches towards toddlers or parents in their advertisements or mailings.

The other alternative is to market towards a general audience, but this can often be pretty costly in terms of advertising expenses; it's smarter to try and narrow down to the segment you want to target because there is a higher probability any marketing efforts or advertisements might be given some attention. Advertising efforts are fruitless if the mailings end up in the trash.

*Wrong Advertising Venues

Small businesses typically do not have excess amounts of cash on hand to waste on fruitless efforts of advertising. It is a weakness if ads are places in venues where they won't be seen. For

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