There is no doubt that you are fully invested in making your business successful and it is highly likely that you probably spend plenty of time and money trying to raise the profile of your company so that it gets the chance to grow, but are you getting it right?
If you focus your attention in the wrong areas or don’t have a clear marketing strategy there is is a chance that your business could become starved of the oxygen of publicity that is so important.
Here is a look at some of the classic marketing mistakes that too many make so that you can avoid treading the same flawed path with your own business.
Failing to identify your target market
You might be full of great ideas and inspiration but if you don’t manage to identify who is most likely to be interested in your product or service, you are going to end up wasting more time and money than you should.
Publishing a business blog, for example, is a great way to communicate with existing and potential customers, but unless you manage to define who it is that will be most turned on by what you have to offer, your message could fail to hit home.
Identify your target market and concentrate your efforts on reaching out to this specific audience.
Not establishing a strong web presence
Even if you are not selling to people over the internet via an online store that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ensure that people can find your business on the internet.
The vast majority of potential customers will do a web search to try and find a business or service that they are interested in buying and if you haven’t put the effort into establishing a strong web presence it could hinder your prospects of growing your company.
No USP
It is unusual to run a business where you don’t have any meaningful competition and that means that you need to find a way of standing out from the crowd.
Blending in is not a good marketing strategy and the way to avoid that happening is to think about what your niche is and focus on that unique selling point as a way of getting noticed.
If you don’t have a USP you can’t really expect people to choose your business over a rival.
Work out what makes your company special and the reason why you launched the business in the first place, and use that angle to stand out from the competition.
Lack of consistency with your brand identity
It is no coincidence that global brands spend millions every year putting their name in front of as many people as possible and they also make sure that you know what the brand stands for when you see their logo or image.
Make sure you are consistent with your branding at it will improve your marketing penetration.
Be careful with your choice of markets
Whilst it can be a big advantage to have a niche you have to be careful that you don’t focus on a sector or market that is too narrow.
The issue with picking small niches is that sales growth could be limited if web traffic size is not big enough.
The aim should be to pick a niche market, but one that is big enough to allow your business to expand when you manage to climb to the top of that sector.
Looking too far ahead with your targets
Every business needs a marketing plan and long-term strategy but the problem with looking too far ahead when planning your marketing efforts, it could prove detrimental to your short-term success.
The simple message is that you concentrate on growing your sales every day and week this will take care of the long-term growth that you are looking for.
Not giving something for free or offering incentives
You need to make a profit to survive in business and the idea of giving something away to customers for nothing doesn’t really seem to be the way to achieve that aim.
Ignoring marketing strategies such as freemium could be costly as many customers who go on to spend decent money with you over time will often come to you in the first place because you have offered them something for free as a way of trying you out.
Converting people who love a freebie into a paying customer is not as difficult as it might seem and any lost profits, in the beginning, can be recouped in no time at all.
Not seeing the marketing through beyond a sale
It is a mistake to think that your marketing work is done when you win a sale and gain a new customer.
Adding someone to your customer base is a pivotal moment in your business relationship with them and the aim should be to continue to build on that opening with regular marketing efforts to keep your profile up with them and encourage further sales.
Marketing to existing customers is something you should be doing if you want to maximize sales and create a loyal client base.
Ignore social media at your peril
The way we interact with other has evolved and social media is now a mainstream channel of communication, which is why you need to work hard at establishing a presence on the usual sites that everyone is using.
Starting a blog is also a good idea, as it is a great way to talk to customers and share your ideas for new products and services, allowing you to get some valuable feedback at the development stage.
Getting it wrong on Instagram
Staying on the subject of social media platforms, Instagram is a great medium for marketing your business but you need to get your approach right.
A big turn-off is to post low-quality content that doesn’t entice your audience to return for more, and posting content that is not relevant to your target audience is another classic marketing error.
Avoid being too promotional with Instagram and try to keep it relevant and high-quality if you want to get a good response to your marketing efforts.
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