Would you like to get better results from your marketing and really start taking your business to the next level? Sure you would. I hope you're all planning to make this year your best year ever.

One of the things that I've found is that most small businesses can do much better if they just start avoiding some common marketing blunders.

The good news is that if you're willing to critically evaluate whether you make each of these mistakes, you can find immediate room for improvement.

Here are some marketing mistakes to look for and avoid this year and beyond:

1. Not clarifying your purpose and vision.

2. Not having a marketing and sales system. You have a system for most of your major business functions - billing, accounting, human resources, etc. The one function that usually goes without a system is marketing and sales.

Without a marketing and sales system you'll never grow your business to its full potential. A marketing system will help you break your marketing down into a series of connected small steps to generate more leads consistently and convert them into clients.

3. Never really determining your customers' and prospects' needs. So many small business owners are stubbornly offering their clients and prospect what they want to do.

If you never ask your clients what they value, want and need from a business like yours then you're making a huge mistake. Use customer surveys, focus groups, and stay up on industry news all you can.

4. Not clarifying and articulating your uniqueness throughout all your marketing. How do you stand out and make your message memorable in a crowded marketplace of "me too" alternatives to your business?

Most small businesses never communicate their uniqueness. It's not that you don't have a uniqueness that's significant for your clients, it's just that most don't ever draw it out of their business and articulate it in their marketing. Spend some time to determine how and why your business is different and special. More importantly, clarify how and why that difference benefits your clients.

5. Launching into marketing without preparing. This might seem like a somewhat obvious summary point after the first four mistakes I listed above. Have you spent the time to clarify and define your target niche, your core marketing message, your uniqueness, your packaging, your results and benefits, your risk reversal, your irresistible offers, etc?

Too often I see people that get into business and feel like they have to just start marketing without any preparation. They throw together a brochure, get some business cards, buy some yellow pages advertising, and then rush out to start networking everywhere they can. These are all fine tools. But, without any planning or preparation they often produce poor results.

6. Not using enough marketing lead generation tools. If all you've done is buy a Yellow Pages ad and put up a web site, you're practicing marketing invisibility. Many times I see small business owners implement one idea and then wait to see what kind of results it's going to produce before they try anything else.

Imagine what you could do if you used 5, 10, 15, or more marketing lead generation tools together to grow your business? What effect could this have if each tool was producing some results for you? You sure wouldn't be practicing marketing invisibility.

7. Not having any tools for introduction or follow-up from your business. Unless you're selling a very small ticket product or service, chances are good most prospects won't hire you when they first learn about you. Most people still buy from those they know, like, and trust. Without introduction and follow-up tools to show a little bit of who you are and what you're capable of, establishing those levels of know, like, and trust often never happens.

You need to develop some low-cost, low-risk tools to introduce people to your business and use throughout your follow-up cycles until they are ready to buy. Articles, special reports, tip sheets, newsletters, tele-seminars, invitations to networking events, and free trial periods are all examples of low-risk and low-costs (sometimes even free) ways to accomplish this task.

8. Never giving clients and prospects reasons why. You need to give your prospects and clients reasons why you're doing the things you do. This fits right along with the previous point, but also with other elements of your marketing such as why you're running a special promotion or why you're offering special pricing, etc.

When you offer reasons your prospects and clients will appreciate what you're doing at a higher level. They'll be more likely to believe in you and trust you. Above all, they'll be much more likely to take action.

9. Not creating marketing and advertising that is direct-response-oriented. So many small business owners are creating marketing or advertising campaigns to "get their name out there." But, the problem is there's no call to action to generate immediate response.

You need to create marketing and advertising that gets people to act as soon as they see it. Simply listing the name of your company, a few bullets on services you provide and a phone number to call won't get it done.

10. Not testing and tracking. Once you put your marketing out there, how do you know if it's doing the job of attracting prospects and clients? How do you know if you could be getting 20, 30, or 70% greater results? Too many small businesses simply don't test and track their efforts.

Testing and tracking may not be as hard as you think. For example, when sending a direct sales letter you could split your list in half and test a different headline, offer, or price with each half of the list. You could send the same letter to two different lists to see which list is more responsive. Tracking could be as easy as putting a code on each and asking the prospect for the code whenever an inquiry comes in.

11. Not sticking with marketing tools that are still working. This is often a direct result of mistake number 10, but also happens because people think they need to keep things fresh. Sometimes business owners think something has been running for too long or they're simply tired of the same old thing.

If something is working, then you need to stay with it. The key here is to be always tracking your results. Chances are good you'll get tired of a certain marketing activity long before it stops working for you. Resist the temptation to change something up just because you're bored with it.

12. Stop marketing once you get the client. Too many small business owners focus all of their marketing energy on acquiring a new client. This is a big mistake even though most say they recognize it takes seven to eight times as much to get a new client as it does to sell to an existing client.

Two things you don't want to hear from a client are ... "I didn't know you guys did that..." and "I wish we would of thought of you when we just bought that last week." Marketing shouldn't stop once you get the client.

Put clients and prospects on your stay-in-touch marketing list. Keep them informed and continue to share information of value with them. Share success stories. Ask them for feedback. Ask them how else you can help them. Ask them who else they know that you can help.

13. No plan or system for generating referrals. Almost every small business owner I meet tells me most of their business comes from referrals or word-of-mouth. But, when I ask them what they're doing to guarantee a consistent flow of referral business, they just don't have an answer.

It feels great when a happy client tells someone else about you and that new prospect becomes a client. But, if you're just passively sitting around waiting for others to refer you, then you're not maximizing your growth potential. You need a systematic approach to generate a constant flow of referrals. Take a look at John Jantsch's Referral Flood.

I'm sure there are more small business marketing mistakes, but these are costing small business owners plenty. Do your best to avoid each of these mistakes. With some commitment and effort, you can't help but end up with more effective marketing.