What is the number one mistake companies make when it come to their online presence? They don’t have a strategy. And that’s the biggest reason why they fail.
If you want your business to succeed, you need a strategy. You need a plan. A roadmap for how you’re going to get from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow. But most of all, you need a vision.
What do you want your company to look like in 3 years? 5 years? 7 years? How will you know if you’ve succeeded?
That’s what this post is about. It’s about creating a vision for your business and then figuring out exactly how to get there. Because if you don’t have an end goal in mind, you can’t possibly know whether or not you’re on track to achieve it.
We like to say that some companies do something called “RAM”, Random Acts of Marketing. It basically this flux of marketing, then no marketing, marketing, then no marketing within a business. Even if you have a marketing team, they might pivot their priorities so they might get off course on specific tasks and and lose their sight on the bigger initiative.
The #1 mistake companies make when it comes to their marketing is this, RAM, and we’re going hopefully get rid of it and become “proactive” instead of “reactive.”
We’re going to dive into some common marketing mistakes companies go through, and break them down.
Not Setting Goals for Your Marketing Strategy
As mentioned before, not having a marketing plan or strategy is arguably the #1 mistake companies make when it comes to their marketing.
Marketing is all about goals. Without them, we’d never know what our ROI is, let alone figure out which tactics worked best. So why do so many marketers fail to set goals?
They think it’s too hard, they don’t want to commit to something that doesn’t guarantee immediate success, or they just feel like they’re wasting their time setting them up. But even though they might not realize it, their lack of goals makes it harder for them to succeed.
Fact: Marketers who set specific, measurable, aspirational, realistic, and time-based goals (SMART) are much more successful than those without. Over 80% of goal-setting marketers are able to achieve their goals.
One of the biggest mistakes businesses often make is failing to construct a marketing strategy based on SMARTER goals.
Marketing without a goal is like driving down the highway without a destination. You might see some beautiful scenery along the way, but it won’t help you find what you want. Setting a goal helps you focus your efforts while providing you with a sense of accomplishment once you reach your target audience.
Setting specific, measurable goals for every marketing campaign allows you to measure success and determine whether your strategy is working. If you don’t set a goal, you might spend hours creating a brilliant piece of copywriting, only to discover that no one reads it because it doesn’t answer a question.
We actually published a blog relating to setting goals and objectives if you need more info on that.
Not Enough Target Market Research
A solid marketing strategy will be based on thorough market research. This includes understanding where your customers spend their time online, how much value they place on certain products/services, what motivates them to buy, and what makes them tick.
The most important thing is that you have a clear understanding of the target audience’s needs and wants. If you don’t know who your ideal customer is, then it’s going to be difficult for you to create content that resonates with them.
SEO can help you with your research. Compared to organic social media, search engine optimization drives more than 1000% more traffic. Utilizing a good SEO strategy can help you target your customer base more precisely. We have an article regarding how to “Improve Your SEO Strategy” if you are interested in this topic.
It’s all about having the right message, to the right client, at the right time.
For example, let’s say that you recently tore your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Then, you start receiving messages from orthopedics practices about how they have the most effective spinal surgery in the country.
It’s highly likely that you won’t even read that email. Why would you care?
If the same orthopedics office had done proper segmentation of its email list and sent you messages about knee pains, they might be able to get you to visit them for an appointment.
If you want to get started with creating an effective marketing plan, here are some tips:
- Understand Your AudienceBefore you can start writing any copy or designing any graphics, you need to understand your audience. You should also consider the following questions when developing your marketing strategy:
Who is my audience? Who do I want to reach out to? What kind of person am I trying to attract? How old are they? Where do they live? What does this demographic like? What doesn’t this demographic like? How often do they use social media? Do they prefer mobile or desktop? Are they more likely to read text-based articles or images? “They”, of course, meaning your target audience related to your business.
You may find that your audience is very different from what you originally thought. For example, if you sell pet food, you might think that your audience would be people who own pets. However, once you dig deeper into your data, you may realize that your audience consists of dog owners. So, instead of targeting pet owners, you could focus on dog owners.
- What Is My Product/Service About?Your product or service has to be something that your audience cares about. It shouldn’t just be about making money; it should be about solving problems.
For example, if you sell a book, make sure that it solves a problem that your readers face. The book should help them learn new skills, solve common problems, or simply entertain them.
If you want to build an online business, then focus on creating products and services that are useful for people who have the same interests as you do.
You can also create content that is useful to other businesses. For example, if you run a website design company, you could write articles that teach others how to improve their websites.
- How Can I Help Them?This question is closely related to the first one. When you ask yourself “how can I help them?,” you’re asking yourself “what problem can I solve?”
It’s important to remember that not all problems are created equal. Some problems are easier to solve than others. Figuring out the way you can specifically help them with their issue is very beneficial.
Unintentionally Neglecting Your Current Customers
No one sets out to intentionally neglect their customers, it just doesn’t make sense. But what happens is that account managers for example might be spread too thin for the number of clients you have, possibly losing a more personal and consistent connection with your customers. You have to find ways to get temperature checks for your existing clients too make sure they are not in the position to leave. You should be spending the same amount of time and effort on both signing new customers, and also retaining your current customers.
Small & Medium-sized Business Marketing Mistakes You Should Avoid
If you want to grow your business, don’t ignore your customers. Here are two common mistakes small businesses make that cost them money and keep them from growing.
- Ignoring Your Current CustomersYou know how much you spend on advertising each month. But what do you spend on keeping up with your best customers? If you aren’t tracking your spending, you won’t know where your budget goes. And if you don’t track your spending, you might miss opportunities to increase your sales.
- Not Building Relationships With Existing CustomersMany businesses think that once they build relationships with potential customers, they’re done. They forget about the people who already love their products and services. These loyal customers are worth far more than the ones who haven’t been around long enough to justify spending money on them.
Not Using Your Strategy and Plan as a Way to Stand Out Amongst Your Competitors
A lot of businesses are very good at what they do. They’re experts in their field, and they know how to market effectively. But there’s another way to go about things. You don’t want to copy your competition; you want to stand out. And while doing that, you’ll probably end up focusing less on the things that make you different from the rest of the pack and more on the things that make everyone else similar to each other.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that you won’t be able to distinguish yourself from your competitors. If you’re trying to sell something like a car, you might try to appeal to people based on what makes cars fun to drive, or maybe you could highlight safety features or fuel efficiency. Either way, though, you’re still going to be competing against other manufacturers for attention.
Instead of trying to compete on those same attributes, focus on what separates your brand from the others. For example, if you’re selling a digital camera, you might emphasize the fact that yours shoots 4K video, or you could talk about the ease of use. These are the things that set you apart from the crowd, and they allow you to build loyalty among your customers.
Not Measuring Results or Using Wrong Metrics
In a fast-moving company, there are always lots of things happening every single day. And because you’re busy running your business, you might not notice if something isn’t working out. Or maybe you do notice, but you just assume that it’s normal for your product to lose market share.
But if you want to grow your business, you need to measure your results. Without measurement, you won’t know whether your actions are having a positive impact, and you won’t be able to change what’s not working. So, where do you start?
There are two main ways to measure your results:
1. Set up KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). These are specific numbers that indicate how well your business is doing. For example, one KPI could be “new customers.” Another could be “average revenue per customer.”
2. Measure your success. This involves looking at how many people are signing up for your product, how often they use it, and how much money they spend while using it.
Which metric is best for your business depends entirely on what you’re trying to achieve. A KPI like “customers” doesn’t tell you anything about whether your product is actually helping those customers. On the other hand, “revenue” tells you exactly how well your product is performing.
Vanity metrics like followers and likes may give you an idea of how well known your business is, but they aren’t always useful for gauging whether people actually care about your company. Don’t get me wrong, they are helpful, but not necessarily so when it comes to your bottom line.
The goal here is to start making data driven decisions. Your data needs to tell a story and needs to have actionable data that you can change and adjust.
There are some common mistakes that we’ve observed so many companies making when it comes to reporting, which we call “death by data.” So, what is it exactly?
Instead of getting too little information, there’s so much information out there that you end up overwhelmed by it.
With Real Time Data, you can focus on the essentials to get a at-a-glance look at the metrics that matter most:
- How many site visitors do we get and how did it compare to your goals
- How many leads did we get and how did it compare to your goals
- How many clients did we close and how did it compare to your goals
And once we know that, you’re to determine where Leads came from:
- Organic Search
- Direct Traffic
- Referrals
- Social Media
- Outbound Marketing
- Paid Ads
- Paid Social
Expecting Results to Happen Instantly
Going along with the previous section, one of the biggest mistakes a small business can make is thinking that marketing campaigns are going to produce immediate results. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide to start promoting your brand online. It takes time for things to build momentum.
Marketing isn’t a science; it’s an art. There’s no substitute for hard work and persistence. If you want to succeed, you’ve got to put in the hours.
You might think that because you’re running a small business, marketing doesn’t take much effort. But you’d be wrong. If you want to grow your business, you’ll need to invest time and energy into marketing.
As a small business owner, you probably feel like you spend too much time working on your business and not enough time enjoying life. And you’re probably right. So why not use some of those extra hours to market your business?
Need More Help?
Need more help figuring out more marketing mistakes? Check out another article we wrote relating to this topic.
You shouldn’t spend any of your precious marketing budget on guesswork. Instead, invest in proven methods for success.
You don’t have time to stake your entire campaign on independent sources.
You don’t just need to be good at SEO or social marketing; you must also know how to use them effectively.
Innovation occurs when you can combine all aspects of the marketing mix—from creative to content to distribution—into one cohesive strategy.
That’s why you need a systematized strategy, a perfect feedback loop of information that allows for data-based decisions with clarity.
Over the last 21+ years, we’ve created exactly that kind of proven marketing system. One that:
- Lays out a clear plan to 5x or 10x your lead opportunities
- Turns the traditional funnel approach into a marketing flywheel
- Utilizes a Team-Based Agency Approach
- Does it all at a fraction of the monetary & time cost of traditional marketing strategies
If you need a Gap Assessment, please visit our page. We can help you identify a roadmap for your next 3-5 years!
Farotech has helped hundreds of businesses grow, improve quality and find new audiences.
We work closely with our clients to understand their goals and objectives, then develop a strategy to achieve those goals, using a combination of traditional media, social media and promotion. Our approach ensures results and increased client satisfaction.
If you have any questions about our agency or approach, please contact us and we will get back to you shortly. We look forward to working with you!
