What are the 6 most common mistakes that new marketing managers make? Although this list is by no means heavily researched it is based upon 25 years of observation of marketing managers and the decisions they have made:

  1. Rely heavily upon what their direct boss thinks and in effect, turn off their brain to new ideas.
  2. Take the safe route that will not place the manager in a potentially vulnerable position.
  3. Decide strategic directions based upon a committee vote.
  4. Copy a competitor’s idea or try and adapt one from a successful marketer in another industry.
  5. Rely heavily upon an outside agency to do all of the strategic thinking.
  6. Ignore the company’s core customers and what they think, need, and want.

I’d have to say marketing managers that follow these simple steps will find not serve their company well and will, in all likelihood, find themselves out of a job within a year or doing something other than marketing for their company.