Just as dangerous as assuming a salesperson has an intimate knowledge of media and marketing - as I touched on yesterday - is a developer who assumes that he or she has that same intimate knowledge.
Mistake #3 - Being a Media Expert. Would a developer hire a general contractor to do an architects job? "Hey, here's a piece of property, Joe. Go ahead and build something, we'll get it sold..." I don't think so, either.
This is what developers do when they become media experts. I've seen developers think that they "understand" the way print, web and mass media work. Time and again, they are proven wrong. They go get a PR company to "tell their story" while 85% of people looking for their next home are searching on the web.
PR, Media and especially Online presence have never been more complicated. It takes not only an accurate architecture, but also an intelligent strategy, the right technology and a solid experience base to make it all come together. Yet Developers believe they can simply "figure it out" - just like hiring your General to do architectural and design work. Too often, developers seem to think that they can just "wing it," that a project will sell itself if its name and description are simply mentioned in a magazine or newspaper article. This stuff never hurts, until it becomes the only thing you are relying on. In today's market, PR is nice, but its not what gets you leads and brings in sales. You need an intelligent, connected team of actual marketing experts who know how to implement a strategy that can bring in Quality, Quantity and Qualified leads.