If you want to get your name out there and in front of prospects, you might consider things like advertising, direct mail, exhibiting at trade shows, open houses and event sponsorships. These can all be successful elements to market your business. But marketing is not about randomly spending money. Marketing activities, if planned strategically, executed properly and tracked, should help you achieve brand recognition, increased sales and profits.

Let’s look at some of the reasons why many companies fail in their marketing efforts.

They don’t have a marketing plan. Most companies think of marketing as printing brochures, posting on social media or exhibiting at events, among other methods – but rarely do they have a well-written plan. They engage in these and other marketing activities randomly and without consistency, which results in very poor ROI. They don’t have an end goal in mind. For small businesses, marketing activities must result in increased revenues and profits, period.

They let their competitors dictate their efforts. Do you look at your closest competitors and try to imitate or one-up their collateral materials? Do you look at the events they participate in and get involved so as not to be left out? Focusing on your competitors’ actions limits your creativity. I’d rather you create innovative programs and campaigns that stand on their own and make you stand out. Study your target market closely and engage in marketing activities that help you reach that market most effectively and efficiently.

They send the wrong message with their own marketing materials. We all can agree we’re in the marketing and promotion business, and not simply selling stuff. Our goal is to promote our clients’ messages and events. How closely have you inspected the quality of your marketing materials – especially your self-promo products? Is decoration on these products perfect, or just acceptable? What image do the products project? Your self-promo products need to be best from every angle: the quality of the product, decoration method, decoration location and professionalism. What message does it convey to your prospects and clients if you can’t even get your own materials right?

Now, let’s talk about ways to make your marketing efforts result in profitable sales.

Be creative, unique, contrarian and strategic. After you clearly understand your target market and the prospects who can actually buy your products and services, devise creative and unique marketing strategies to reach them. Be relentless. Be consistent. Don’t be afraid to be different. One of my favorite examples of this is the iPad. Nobody thought Steve Jobs would succeed when he came out with the iPad. Most people discounted it as a glorified phone and wrote it off. Jobs believed in the product and never wavered: Almost 500 million iPads have been sold since its debut in 2010.

Create differentiation. Your USP (unique selling proposition) must be communicated clearly and consistently through your marketing messages. Rather than the same old message of the “best service” or “lowest prices,” your prospects must know how you are different and better than the competition. They also need to see the value you bring to the table. Be specific; eliminate vagueness in your messages as it creates confusion in prospects' minds, resulting in non-decisiveness.

Launch an aggressive marketing campaign to acquire new customers. Based on your target market and goals, develop an integrated marketing plan that incorporates your creative strategies and how you plan to implement them. This might include an easy-to-navigate website with e-commerce capabilities, a solid public relations campaign that positions you as the expert, and a slick direct mail piece or email to targeted prospects. Execute your plan and track its results along the way. Don’t hesitate to adjust and make improvements as more data becomes available. The goal is to ensure maximum ROI.

Pick the low-hanging fruit. Seeking out new customers and expanding into new markets is exciting and almost always worthwhile. However, focusing on the low-hanging fruit (your existing customer base) can be more rewarding because it delivers multi-fold ROI. Research shows that increasing customer retention by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%. How can you achieve that through marketing?

First, promote awareness of your full range of offerings. This also includes cross-selling and upselling. Along with selling new products and services, you need to train your employees to introduce your customers to products they aren’t currently buying from you. One of the worst statements for a business owner to hear is, “Oh, I didn’t know your company sold this product.” That shows how poor of a job you and your employees have done familiarizing the customer with all that you can do for them.

Next, make good on your marketing efforts by investing in your customer service department. Have you gone to eat at a restaurant or shop at a store after receiving a coupon … and come back disappointed? Marketing can open doors, but the chances of a return visit are very small if your team doesn’t provide a memorable positive experience.

A few days after the customer’s event, call the customer to get feedback on the event's success. Ask them how the promotional products they bought worked. Would they do anything differently the next time? Your genuine interest in their success speaks volumes of the kind of company you are. Instead of a vendor, you become their trusted partner. It demonstrates your care. Isn’t this what we all aspire for? An unwavering commitment to customer service retains customers, earns you referrals and paysyou’re your marketing investments – a recipe for a profitable business.