These are the biggest marketing mistakes entrepreneurs + business owners make that can actually kill their biz.

Let's not let these happen to you.

The Five Deadly Marketing Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make:

1. They don't start marketing + building their community until after they have something to sell.

When people start a business, they tend to focus most of their energy on getting their products or services ready including their website and their branding, but their marketing becomes an after thought.

The reason why this is dangerous for your biz is because marketing is your system for building community, generating buzz, and creating a demand for the product or service you're bringing to the marketplace.

Marketing is the first thing you should learn BEFORE you're ready to sell.

Without having a solid marketing plan + process in place, you're selling to crickets + trying to play catch up.

Strategy + structure dictate how your services + products will show up in the world, who they will serve, and how quickly they'll be consumed (←--meaning how quick peeps are gonna buy your shiznit).

Please don't save your marketing for last.

2. They hustle 110% of the time.

Of course it's important to let peeps know you have stuff for sale, but selling should only be about ¼ of your biz.

The other ¾ should be dedicated to offering value, building community, and positioning your offers (before you make them).

This is how you build trust in the marketplace.

3. They worry about being a professional before being a human being.

One of the biggest fears I hear from entrepreneurs is, "But if I write/communicate how I really speak, everyone will think I'm unprofessional!"

BULL HONKEY! (That's right. I said it.)

Communicating as a genuine human being, the personality behind your biz, is exactly what sets you apart from other experts in your field.

If you don't have a REAL personality to show, and you're constantly worried about prim + proper appearances, all you're gonna create is surface level compliments from clients you can't stand because they don't go deep enough to get the real transformation you're offering (nor do they become brand ambassadors).

If you wanna create staying power in your biz and chuck the raving fans for brand ambassadors that will keep your business bumpin' for years to come, shake the illusory ideas you have around what being professional is + simply show up as the human expert you are.

Your peeps will love you for it.

4. They become the talking expert head.

Piggybacking off what we just talked about, stop being the talking expert head!

You know what I'm talking about—the person constantly giving value without any stories, personal reflections, or relatable flaws to speak of.

When all you do is talk about your zone of genius in a buttoned up, you-can't-reeeeeaaally-see-me kinda way, all you're gonna do is push peeps away.

Get your human on.

Shake things up.

Show up without your hair done or your makeup on.

Be as vulnerable + flawsome as you desire (thank you Tyra Banks for the kick ass word).

Just be YOU.

Your brand needs your personality to make it thrive.

People wanna do business with people, not businesses.

5. They refuse to niche.

This mistake ties for the number one biz killer spot.

I hear it all the time, "I don't wanna niche down because I can work with so many different people + they all need me."

So let's get one thing straight.

Yes, you can work with all these different peeps. And yes, they probably all do need you.

But so what?

That doesn't mean you'll actually enjoy working with them.

That doesn't mean what you do + how you can help them will come across clear.

That doesn't mean you're serving better just because you're serving more.

The reason why niching is important is two-fold:

You can speak more clearly to your peeps so you actually attract people you LOVE + who get results.

And you can position yourself with ease to actually offer the highest quality services + products.

Niching is not about turning people away. It's about turning people on.

It's about seeing them in their truth, reaching out a hand, and saying, "I see your pain. Now let's fix it together."

Your peeps need to know you understand them. If they don't feel understood, why would they trust you to take them to the other side of their problem?

There's freedom in the niche because the niche is the bridge from pain to pleasure, problem to transformation, and failure to success.

Without niching, your offerings feel unstable, insecure, and (at best) general to the people you wanna serve (read: not for them or their specific needs).

If you wanna circumvent these deadly marketing mistakes + create long-term viability in your biz, start with the niche. Get clear on that, and the rest is much easier to create.

What action steps are you gonna take in your biz right now to avoid making these mistakes?