10 Marketing Mistakes Businesses Make
Top marketing mistakes we see businesses making daily and what you should be doing instead.
1. NOT USING SOCIAL MEDIA
The worst mistake we see businesses making with their marketing is not using social media correctly. There are 2.82 billion registered users worldwide, so everyones customers are using it!
We’re currently in the golden age of social media and to not at least give it a go, would be hugely detrimental to the potential growth of your business.
? DEVELOP A STRATEGY
As you would with any marketing technique, you should develop a plan that works for you. Follow these simple guidelines to lay the foundation for improving:
- Pick 2-3 platforms where your target audiences are.
- Create a calendar to encourage you to publish regularly.
- Monitor what posts are your best performing ones and replicate those at scale.
2. UNDER UTILISING GOOGLE
We often run website and SEO reports and still find clients not using any form of analytics e.g. Google Analytics.
Google is the first place consumers visit to shop for a product or service, so by not linking your site to Google, how would they know you exist? You wouldn’t throw a party without letting people know the address, would you?!
? LEARN TO GOOGLE
93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and that is something you could easily tap into.
Make sure you have Google Analytics installed and you have submitted your site to Google Search Console.
TOP TIP!
Analyse your Google Analytics to find out where your visitors are coming from, then publish more content in those areas.
3. IGNORING YOUR COMPETITORS
Whether you like it or not, you have umpteen competitors, directly or indirectly. And the best way to stay on top of marketing trends in your sector is to monitor your competition.
We speak to businesses day in, day out, who are unaware what their competition are doing and how they may be falling behind the curve.
The old saying ‘keep your friends close…’ couldn’t be more applicable here.
? ADHERE TO A PROCESS
Put a system in place to ensure you’re aware of what your competitors are doing, whether it’s an excel spreadsheet or notes in a notepad. Record your findings on a regular basis.
Main things to look out for is their website, social media approach, customer reviews, search engine ranking and other marketing tactics they may be using.
SUPPORT
If you want a FREE template, send us an email [email protected].
4. ZERO CONSISTENCY
If there is only one thing you take away from this post, it’s this: PLEASE BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR MARKETING.
Customers cannot build trust with your business if you fail to show up regularly. Posting on social media regularly, updating your website regularly, sending out regular emails makes your brand feel more dependable, and in turn, more trustworthy.
Because people only buy from people who they trust.
? MERE EXPOSURE EFFECT
The Mere Exposure Effect is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things because they are familiar with them.
You can use this effect to your advantage by marketing consistently. If you can get your brand in front of potential customers eyes on a regular basis, they will start to find you more pleasing and likeable.
IT’S JUST SIMPLE SCIENCE, GUYS!
5. YOU’RE IMPATIENT!
If we had ￡1 for ever business we’ve spoken to who expected results immediately, we’d be floating on the NYSE!
But, unfortunately, there isn’t a marketing technique you can start that will build your business rapidly overnight. Rome wasn’t built in a day blah, blah, blah…
As with anything worthwhile, good marketing takes time and produces exponential growth in the long-term.
? TAKE YOUR TIME…
It takes time to develop any good relationship. You want to build trust between your business and your customers.
Being impatient withy our marketing doesn’t necessarily mean you are sitting around doing nothing. It can mean you are doing the right thing to achieve the goals you have set out.
Think of your marketing as an investment that will pay dividends in the long-term.
6. YOU DON’T HAVE A BUDGET?!
Most of the businesses we speak to don’t have a set budget they spend on marketing, or they think they don’t have one, and because of this any time they’re quoted a price for something they deem it too expensive.
Believe it or not, every single business has a budget. ￡0 a month is a budget as well as ￡1000 a month is a budget. If you’re towards the lower end of the scale, it’s just a case of being more creative with your marketing.
? WORK WITH WHAT YOU HAVE
If you have little to no budget available for marketing, it’s about investing time, not money. There are plenty of free marketing resources you can use to help market your business.
Social media is free to use, Mailchimp is free to send bulk emails, Canva is free to design lovely images, HubSpot is free to track sales and potential clients.
TOP TIP!
Google ‘free marketing resources‘ unlimited tools.
7. DISREGARDING MOBILE
Mobile marketing is marketing your business to people using mobile devices.
QUICK QUESTION: How many target audiences would benefit from mobile-first marketing?
ANSWER: Everyone!
Mobile marketing is not the future, it’s already here. According to GSMA, there are 5.17 billion people that have a mobile device, that’s over two thirds of the worlds population.
? THINK MOBILE-FIRST MARKETING
Unless you’re specifically designing a brochure as a handout, for example, you should think how is this going to appear on a mobile device.
Each video you make should be made with mobile in mind, not TV. Every email you send be designed with mobile first, not desktop. Every websitedesigned… you get the gist.
8. MARKETING TO EVERYONE
A lot of businesses make the mistake of thinking everybody is a potential customer. Your messages become bland and in the end, you end up marketing to nobody.
Businesses soon realise that you can’t fit square leads into round holes.
Continuing to think everybody is a prospect is a slippery slope towards wasted time and money.
? CREATE A CLIENT AVATAR
If you don’t know who your ideal clients are, you are not going to know how to market to them.
Send us an email to [email protected] and we’ll send you a FREE client avatar template.
Once you know who your ideal client is, where they live and work, their hobbies, age, etc. it makes your life so much easier trying to reach them
9. NO MARKETING PLAN
You know how the best businesses have a business plan? Well, it’s the same for marketing.
Without a marketing plan, even a few scribbles on a piece of paper, how will you know if your marketing is working? How will you know your budget? How will you know your target market?
Most of the challenges you encounter when marketing can be avoided, or at least eased, with a decent plan in place.
? A MARKETING STRATEGY IS DIFFERENT TO MARKETING TACTICS
To keep it simple, a strategy is a plan for reaching a goal, a tactic is means to reach that goal.
For example, a strategy could be ‘acquiring more customers in a certain location‘. The tactic would be ‘how to acquire them‘, e.g. offer a discount to people in that area.
Try to differentiate between the two when putting your marketing plan together.
10. LEAD GEN WHAT?!
Most of the businesses we speak to make sales, by first, generating leads. These are people who have expressed interest in your business by providing some form of information e.g. name, email, phone number, social media details, etc.
But, unfortunately, they don’t have a process of generating leads. No clear call-to-action on content, relying on old-school tactics and not communicating your value are mistakes we come across all too often.
? DEVELOP A LEAD GEN FUNNEL
A lead generation funnel will help drive potential customers from just finding out who you are, all the way to making a sale with you.
Your funnel can contain numerous stages but think of the journey they take with you to take them from the top (finding out who you are) to the bottom (making a sale with you).
TOP TIP!
Try to provide different messages and types of content depending on where your customer is in the funnel.