If you’re one of the 47 percent of small business owners who do all of their own marketing, this is probably one of the many hats you wear. And, unless you own a marketing company, you probably don’t have a professional marketing background. This means that there are probably a few things you’re doing — or not doing — in your marketing efforts that are stifling your company’s growth.
Avoiding common small business marketing mistakes
Here are five common marketing mistakes made by small businesses, as well as suggestions for how to avoid them.
1. Doing your own writing
Given the high cost of professional copywriting services, it’s no surprise that many small business owners try to avoid this step by doing their own writing. But when they do, it’s obvious.
“Copywriters don’t just ‘write copy,’ explain the copywriting experts at Coopman Creative. “Our skills and expertise extend far beyond that, encompassing brand management, the art of persuasion, nuanced audience and channel understanding, a genuine flair for language crafting and creative writing, and borderline-obsessive grammar knowledge.”
It’s best to leave it to the pros unless you’re a trained copywriter. An experienced copywriter can provide a fresh perspective on your company, assist you in shaping your value proposition so that it stands out from competitors, and create polished copy that is sure to sell. If you’re looking for a way to stand out in your industry, the expertly written copy is the way to go. And if you invest wisely in a copywriter who truly understands their craft, you’ll more than likely quickly recoup your investment through higher conversion rates and overall marketing ROI.
2. Ignoring your website
Your website is the digital representation of your company. It reflects your in-person experience, if you have one, and establishes the tone for what customers can expect when doing business with you. When you neglect your website, you not only risk driving away potential customers who may believe your business is no longer open or is poorly run, but you also harm your SEO, which means you will receive less traffic from search engines over time.
“Taking proactive steps to keep your site clean and running smoothly can help buffer against external factors, supporting your long-term goals for your site and marketing strategy,” according to Search Engine Journal. This is referred to as “SEO hygiene” — essentially, the routine performance of checks and tasks to ensure that your website looks and performs optimally.
Here are some best practices for good SEO hygiene from Search Engine Journal that small businesses can use:
- Maintain the cleanliness of your website’s code.
- Check to see if your website is mobile-friendly.
- Handle any redirection problems.
You’ll also want to make sure your page load time is as short as possible to keep users on your site and achieve high SEO performance.
If you manage your own website, make it a point to set aside some time at least once a month to check for broken links and, if necessary, update website copy such as your contact information and hours of operation. Hire an SEO professional to help you check for technical SEO issues regularly — at least every six months — and make an annual effort to update your branding, imagery, and messaging to keep your site feeling fresh.
Read How to Develop an Effective SEO Strategy for Your Business in 2022.
3. Exhausting your audience
While many small business owners do not publish enough content due to time and budget constraints, others can be guilty of publishing too much — and usually on the same channel.
It’s understandable that if you don’t have a large marketing team, you’ll want to focus on the one or two channels you know best, such as email or Facebook. However, while it is important to get your message out there and build brand awareness, you must avoid overwhelming your audience, or they will leave. According to a GoodFirms survey, 42% of users unfollow brands that publish too much content.
“To occupy enough of their mind space to close a deal, you must constantly remind contacts and connections of your worth.” “However, you must do so in a way that does not ‘fatigue’ them,” explain the marketing experts at The Paperless Agent. “To avoid audience fatigue, good marketers use multiple channels of communication to stay in touch with their audiences.”
Make sure you’re using a multichannel approach to staying in touch with customers — for example, email, SMS, Facebook, and your company newsletter — and don’t rely too heavily on any single channel.
4. Failure to monitor your progress
Another common blunder made by business owners is failing to track the results of their marketing efforts. Despite this lack of data, they will continue to invest in marketing practices without knowing whether they are effective or not.
Without metrics to tell you what’s working and what isn’t, you could be wasting marketing dollars and missing out on opportunities to significantly improve your results. Furthermore, metrics assist you in continuously refining and improving your marketing over time.
Rialto Marketing’s Tim Fitzpatrick highlights a few reasons why some business owners ignore marketing metrics:
Time constraints
Some business owners believe they are too busy to examine data analytics or review performance reports. However, if you have time to market, you also have time to evaluate your efforts. It may only take a few minutes once you’ve mastered it.
A scarcity of technology
It’s a common misconception among business owners that they need specific tools or software systems to analyze metrics. Google Analytics is completely free, and many social media platforms have their own reporting pages.
Lack of understanding
Some people are unsure of what they should be measuring, but a little online research can help you determine the best KPIs (key performance indicators) for each channel.
Concentrate on what’s important
You don’t need to track a plethora of metrics — in fact, you shouldn’t — to keep tabs on your marketing campaigns. To begin, set aside an afternoon to review your marketing channels, identify a few metrics in each one to begin tracking, and create a simple spreadsheet that tracks these metrics, as well as your marketing, spend for each channel. Set up a Google Analytics account if you haven’t already to help you analyze your web metrics. Finally, make sure you ask each new customer how they heard about you and keep track of this valuable information.
Set aside an hour or two each month to update and review your spreadsheet. Alternatively, with all the money you’ll save by tracking your marketing ROI, consider hiring a marketing consultant or virtual assistant to handle this for you.
5. Failure to address your intended audience
Are your marketing and advertising campaigns not producing the desired results? “Most of the time, the issue is a disconnect between you — the content creator — and your audience,” explains the business experts at Cox Business. “When a piece of writing (or any other form of creative content, for that matter) fails to resonate, it’s usually because it wasn’t what the audience was looking for.”
When it comes to creating relevant content that converts, knowing who you’re talking to is essential. After all, how can you persuade prospects that you’re the ideal solution to their problems if you don’t know what those problems are?
Audience research is the first step in creating great content. Spend some time getting to know your best customers by calling them. Request the following information from them:
- Their age group, generation, or life stage
- If they are not local, where do they live?
- Language preferences and culture
- Hobbies, interests, and memberships
- They enjoy consuming and sharing their favorite content.
- Their main sources of distress
- What they’re typing into Google to find solutions to their problems
- Their preferred social media platforms and websites
- Anything else that will allow you to communicate with them more directly in your marketing
Use your responses to inform future marketing copy, and you’ll be amazed at how much better your results will be.
Work smarter rather than harder
It’s difficult to generate qualified leads and move prospects through the conversion funnel when you also have to worry about the rest of your business. However, as long as you are strategic in your approach, it does not have to take a long time. Avoiding the marketing mistakes listed above is a great place to start. Even if this necessitates a slightly higher initial investment in your marketing, you’ll find that these efforts will pay for themselves in the long run.
Learn more from business and read New Business Social Media Marketing Strategy.
