Five Marketing Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

We get it, marketing is tough. Spreading the word about your amazing business can sometimes feel like throwing spaghetti on the wall and praying that some of it sticks. To complicate things even further, there are numerous problems that can arise if you’re not careful in your process.

These pitfalls not only intrinsically affect efficiency, but they also result in additional costs as your business is forced into overdrive to remedy issues AND still maintain steady operations.

However! You can avoid any troubles and boost your marketing efforts with proper direction and foresight. Let’s dive into this together.

In our experience, there are some pitfalls that businesses fall into more frequently than others, and rather than beat around the bush and waste your time, we are going to specifically discuss five of them here.

#1 Missing out.

There is a fine line between persistence and insanity. Sticking to your guns can be advantageous at times, but when the ship has holes in it there’s no point to continue rowing. Still following? Good. To put it more plainly, when a business refuses to change (read: adapt) with the times they are bound to fall behind their competition. Why is this? Marketing is far too dynamic to rest on your laurels. If you blink you’ll miss a new innovation; if you sneeze you’ll miss about a dozen!

Instead, continuously keep your finger on the marketing pulse. Stay up-to-date on what’s new and seek out possible implementations within your own operations.

#2 No silver bullet!

After understanding that you can always tweak your marketing efforts, it can be easy to slip into a narrow-minded focus. Check out the following conversation for an easily digestible example of this.

CEO: Alright team, we’ve got to step up our marketing efforts. Any ideas?

Marketing Guru 1: I’ve read that fine-tuning your website’s SEO is a smart move.

CEO: Brilliant. Let’s divert all our marketing budget to making our SEO the best in the world.

Marketing Guru 2: What about every other aspect of marketing? Shouldn’t we be improving everything?

pause

CEO: Don’t be silly. All we need is SEO.

And yet “silly” is exactly what that is. Imagine your company’s marketing as a stool, with each tactic (SEO, email, social, web, etc.) serving as a leg. If any number of legs are underdeveloped (or nonexistent), the stool is sure to fall. The lesson to be learned here: Invest in and implement a well-rounded marketing effort, don’t let your business fall.

#3 Ignoring negative feedback.

Haters gonna hate, right? So when they do, how should you respond? One train of thought would be to simply not respond. This safeguards against any sort of backlash right? Wrong! That may have worked a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but in today’s world having a responsive digital presence has become the standard.

More and more, social media and the internet are being used as a source for new clients. Facebook, Twitter, and the other communication platforms have become a primary means of communication between businesses and their customers. This means that if, for example, you receive a negative review on Facebook, it is being seen by so many of your potential customers and it just may turn them away. Word of mouth carries a lot of influence, and letting negativity marinate on a public-facing platform is asking to be talked about.

While ideally there won’t ever be any negativity associated with your business, realistically even the best businesses find themselves receiving complaints for whatever reason. In these instances, the best plan of action is to address the issue and encourage settling the matter offline.

Following this logic makes it abundantly clear how important being responsive to negativity is. Don’t fall into the pitfall of ignoring the things you don’t want to deal with.

#4 Giving up on social media.

It’s no secret that social media and marketing have become incredibly intertwined. No matter what industry you operate in, having a digital presence is a must because that’s where your potential clients are. Additionally, social media has become a large piece of the branding pie.

So, even when it seems like your social media efforts aren’t producing any results it’s important to never give up. Social media marketing is a marathon and deserves to be treated as such. Understand that it will take time for you to build up your following and begin receiving leads and customers from social media. BUT! As you invest more and more, you will see your brand blossom and garner more attention, more inquiries, and eventually more sales.

As JennyQ, the #2 expert in the world on live streaming, says, “The ROI of social media is [that] you get to be in business in five years.” It’s as simple as that. Giving up on social media is effectively sounding the death knell for your business.

#5 Not measuring things. How do you know if you’re succeeding?

Now let’s understand one very important underlying aspect to marketing that all the above points rely on. Measurement. As Rhea Allen, Peppershock Media’s President and CEO, constantly says, “Measure what you treasure!”

No matter what action you are taking, it’s crucial that you measure as much as you can. This way, you will have all the data you need to make informed business decisions moving forward. This data brings to light what does and doesn’t work, opening the door to maximum optimization, and isn’t that all we’re really after here anyway?

Let these tips guide you as you navigate the business world. Stay away from the pitfalls, keep on the path to success, and may all your spaghetti stick to the wall.

If you have comments or questions, either leave them in the comment section below or visit the Contact Us page.

For an expanded look at some of the most common marketing pitfalls and how to avoid them, check out Rhea’s webinar on the topic.