How do you judge the effectiveness of your marketing efforts? Do they produce results? Great looking ads, fancy logos and flashy Web sites are worthless if they don't bring business to your door. The following suggestions from Meir Liraz, president of Israeli-consultancy BizMove.com, detail some common marketing mistakes. Avoid them, and you'll see your business grow.

1. Not having a clearly defined USP: Do you want to fit in or stand out? To thrive in a cluttered marketplace, every business must clearly articulate an answer to the question, "Why should someone do business with you rather than your competitor? What makes you unique?" Your answer to these questions constitutes your Unique Selling Proposition. Do you offer 24/7/365 service? The lowest price? A no-risk guarantee? A strong USP helps differentiate you in a crowded field.

2. Selling features rather than benefits: "No one ever bought a drill bit, but millions of people have bought a hole." People don't buy features; they buy benefits. Tell customers clearly how the features of your converted product will help them.

3. Making it difficult to do business with you: Is your sales staff knowledgeable about your products? Does someone answer your phone promptly and in a friendly manner? Can people find your phone number or location? Put yourselves in your customer's shoes. Don't make them work because they won't.

4. Not finding out what your customer really needs: It might not be pouches, labels or cartons. You may think price is most important when what they really want is fast service. You may believe fast service is what they want when it's a friendly, personal touch. How do you find out? Ask.

5. Not eliminating the risk: What stops a customer from buying from you? Are they unsure that your offer is worth the money? Make it easy to decide to buy from you. Offer them a money-back, no questions asked guarantee on any product. Why not? Are you afraid people will take advantage of you? Give it a try for a month, and you may be pleasantly surprised. Not confident in your product or service? Then go to work on improving it.

6. Not educating your customers: Don't just claim that your products are better; explain why. Is your staff better trained? Do you use a technology that speeds turnaround or improves quality? Don't expect people to just take your word for it. Quality, Service and Value mean nothing. Everyone claims to offer these. Make your claims real for the customer by offering credible explanations why they should do business with you.

The converters featured in this month's issue have done a good job of avoiding these marketing mistakes. By adding coated paper to its product line, Dreamworks Coating Solutions (page 26) has differentiated itself from competitors. It's one of the only papermakers in the Midwest to offer rollstock coated off-line. The Standard Group (page 30) knows what its customers want and gives it to them by installing the latest technology to meet their finished-packaging needs. And the converters and diemakers profiled in "Diemaking on the edge" (page 34) know that succeeding in today's marketplace takes customer education and cooperation to sell value—not just low price.