Marketing is the lifeline of any small businesses, a chance to build the reputation and reach an army of customers. It allows companies to escape obscurity for good and get products and services in front of the people. Alas, there are many marketing pitfalls to avoid, some of which have business-sinking consequences. I assume you probably cannot afford to lose time and money, so learn from other people’s mistakes instead of your own. Bring in more customers and take them on a stellar journey, eventually turning them into devoted brand ambassadors.
Going in without a plan
Marketing must be carried out in a planned and organized manner. This kind of approach maximizes your ROI and overall chances of success. Therefore, it is time to get educated and keep an eye on current trends. Next, discover who your target customers are and get to know their habits, preferences, and needs. Establish clear, tangible goals. Make informed decisions based on facts and figures and allocate your resources optimally. Like it or not, in the world of marketing, if you fail to plan, you actually plan to fail.
Trying to market to everyone
A scattergun approach is really hit-and-miss proposition. You end up spreading your resources too thin and satisfying nobody in particular. Not everyone has the same wants, which is to say a lot of people simply do not fall into the category of your potential customer. Hence, small businesses are much better off embracing a highly-targeted, precision tactic. In other words, you might want to narrow it down and forget about the mass appeal for the time being. Carve out your niche and know that you do not have to be present on every single social network.
Skimping on marketing
Marketing must never become a victim of belt-tightening. Yes, conserving resources is always important for small businesses, but compromising customer satisfaction and experience can set you on the way to going under. Rest assured that swell marketing pays dividends, in the long run, so make sure to secure funding. Do not hesitate to take small business and personal loans to get started. Just have a marketing budget and try not to blow it in the process.
Neglecting word of mouth
It is easy to get caught up in digital marketing and lose sight of opportunities that wait in the real world. Well, word of mouth is an invaluable asset to your arsenal. The beauty of this type of marketing is that it occurs organically and comes for free. Namely, people who are thrilled with your offerings or have a positive brand experience tend to recommend your business to friends, family, and colleagues. These referrals are highly valued and trusted, especially in the age of aggressive and insincere marketing.
Overdoing it
Modern customers have grown weary of aggressive marketing and companies overselling them online. They want to see businesses valuing their opinions and caring about them as individuals. Thus, put people in the center and build your marketing campaigns around them.
Focus on delivering real value and craft useful content. It drives engagement and brand awareness in a way that sales pitch cannot. This is the best way to delight your audience instead of overwhelming and irritating it.
Not tracking results
Evaluating your efforts is the key to getting the most bang for your hard-earned buck. Considering the number of amazing tools at disposal, you have no excuse to forgo something as important as tracking. So, put a solid system in place. Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that will serve as your guiding light. For instance, in case you are monitoring social media campaigns, you should measure engagement and assess the number of social signals you are generating.
Copycatting
Marketing is not an imitation game, on the contrary. It revolves around setting yourself apart from the cohorts of competition. You should scope out what others are doing but never resort to copying them. The marketing journey begins with the process of self-discovery. Developing your unique selling proposition (USP) is a good place to start. Refer to it when shaping marketing campaigns and offer to people something that other cannot or fail to. Uncover what makes you different and your messages will resonate with the target audience.
Achieve success by design, not chance
If you really mean business, you have to do your homework and figure out who recipients of your marketing messages are. Then, you employ the best tools to hit the mark. Just do not be all over the place. Create a plan and stick to it as long as it yields results. Tailor marketing activities to fit your goals, business model, and budget. Monitor performance and fine-tune your approach if need be. Steer away from common mistakes that ruin efforts of so many businesses and jeopardize their long-term plans. Promote your company in the best possible way: get the word out and spread it far and wide.
