Tip of the hat to RainToday.com

It seems it is all about leads once the referrals and the circle of family and friends aren't enough to keep our firms growing.

Mistake #1: Spending on marketing activities that don't produce ROI or are "vanity exercises" (e.g. excessive graphic design and image advertising). Open up your local business journal, and without a doubt you will see an advertisement for a professional services firm trying to "generate awareness". This organization is "generating awareness" among the 25,000 readers who may (or may not) be targets for its services.

Meanwhile, the funds to create the ad (and to run the ad week after week) can surely be much better spent by reaching out to the smaller, more targeted pool of, say, 1,600 key prospects your firm wants as clients.

For the most part, spending on general awareness ads produces a very low ROI, if any.

See 10 More Lead Generation Mistakes