Marketing Mistakes That Are Hurting Your Business
When done the right way, marketing can help you grow your brand into a thriving business. It can make your customers enthusiastic ambassadors of your brand. It can increase your revenue in ways that you never expected.
But marketing your business the wrong way can damage your brand and cause you to lose customers. In some cases, bad marketing may even result in lost revenue.
Marketing Mistake #1: Not Updating Your Website
Some businesses still believe that having a website is a one time job. If you don't have a reason to go the website weekly, then it is easy to forget. How often have you gone to a website, only to see a blog that hasn't seen an update since 2013? Or pages that say – Update coming in 2014? These are big red signs about the interest that website is getting. If you state you are updating in 2014 then why is the page not up yet months later? Is this a sign of how you will treat my business needs too?
Frequent updates make it easier for your website to rank higher in search engine results. And regular updates should reflect how and where your prospects are using your website. Even testimonial updating on a regular basis and can make a big difference.
Not everyone wants to blog or to show their twitter feed on the website. What if your business is not selling online? Or you just want something simple and easy to maintain? Then keep the site to one page and make that page fantastic. There are lots of ways to capture attention and get people into lists through other means. Just make sure that what you have on the website shows your best side.
Marketing Mistake #2: Not Having a Social Media Plan
When it comes to social media, there’s always something new to learn. There's always a new platform to check out, or ways to update your profile. For some, even producing unique content for each social media channel is overwhelming.
That is why every business needs a social media plan. This plan needs to be updated as you learn what your followers like best. But if social media isn’t your thing, don’t ignore it. Just keep it simple.
- Focus on a basic plan that works with the one social media platform you are most comfortable with. Based on the number of users that are on these channels you should be able to find some prospects on every one of them. So don’t worry about which one, use the one you are comfortable with and focus on making the most of that channel.
- Decide what you are going to share and when. If you have blog posts share the link to them. If you have products you market, or sell, then find a fun way to include them into the plan. Either way, think of things that are of interest to your prospects. What can you help them with, or solutions you can help them identify? These can create great questions to share for interaction.
- Then plan out how to share this content. Interaction needs to be real and live, but it is fine to schedule posting. Hootsuite is a great scheduling tool that can grow with you as your business grows and is simple to use.
- If you are really uncomfortable creating social media content, then outsource it. Fiverr has some great resources and you need more support let me know. I am happy to hook you up with resources.
Marketing Mistake #3: Not Collecting Testimonials
Testimonials are an important part of social proof. Social proof helps potential customers feel comfortable doing business with you. But small business owners and entrepreneurs are sometimes nervous about asking for a testimonial.
One way to collect testimonials is via email. Set up your auto-responder to email your customers shortly after a sale. Email them and include a brief customer satisfaction survey. Or you can ask them to respond to your email with a brief description of their sales experience. This allows you to deal with any issues that may have occurred. And when you get a great testimonial; ask them if you can feature it on your website or in your brochures.
Also don’t forget to ask for testimonials from every time you speak in public. Organizers love to support you if you have supported them and they are seeing results.
One simple thing to collecting testimonials is to make it easy for them to respond. Send a sample of a testimonial you already have. Or you can send a fill in the blank template with your auto-responder. Just remember to change the template once in a while. Expect for the testimonials to come back edited and tweaked. The best part of testimonials is that you never know people may say about you.
Marketing Mistake #4: Not Using Analytics
When it comes to online marketing, there are a variety of analytics tools available. Analytic tools include tracking software on your website that lets you know how your visitors are using your site. The data from your website analytics can show problems with your website, or where your leads are coming from. The best tool is still free – Google Analytics and should be linked to every site.
Learning how to use analytic tools can be challenging. If your site is small or new it may seem like a waste of time. But if you aren’t tracking things you may never figure out what is really working for you? Or worse, change out the things that were working for those that don’t. I had a client that didn’t ever look at her Google Analytics even though she had a blog. When we started working with her, she had decided to kill the blog because of lack of comments. But her analytics showed that over 12% of her business was actually coming from the blog. If we had not verified checked then the changes could have cost her instead of helping her.
If analytics are not your thing, there are lots of outsourcing options. A trained virtual assistant or specialist can break down the data for your business. Or reach out to us here and we can set you up with Google analytics.
Marketing is not complicated. Good marketing is about building momentum for your sales. The marketing mistakes listed are simple to address, and we are here to help if you need any assistance.