6 Marketing Mistakes You May Be Making

These days, it’s not enough to launch an innovative product and hope traditional marketing or word-of-mouth will build your business. You have to take an active approach – especially to online marketing, to ensure your customers can find you when they’re looking for you and stay connected with your brand.

If you think you’ve been doing all the right things but still aren’t seeing results, here are six common marketing mistakes you may be making and what you can do to fix them.

Lacking Goals

If you don’t have goals to focus on, how will you achieve results? Begin by thinking about targets you want to achieve, whether it’s growing your engagement, adding more leads to your CRM database or increasing the volume of your communications. Then, create realistic and attainable goals towards those milestones with a set deadline to keep you on track. Before you embark, take note of the current metrics you’re looking to improve on and track them as you go so you can gauge your success as you work towards your deadline.

Targeting the Wrong Audience

You wouldn’t try to sell diapers to someone without kids, so why would you spend money targeting the wrong audience? Not knowing who you’re selling to will mean your advertisements will fall on deaf ears, and your marketing dollars will go down the drain. However, you don’t need to go in blind. Spend time identifying your ideal customer’s interests, pain points, and find the problems your product can solve. Then, research more about their demographics and shopping patterns to round out a buyer persona. Once you get a clearer image of who you’re selling to, it’ll become much easier to laser-focus your marketing and reach a receptive audience.

Neglecting Website Design

Imagine walking into a store with unorganized shelves, confusing signage, and no one around to answer your questions. Not a great impression, is it? If you haven’t put effort into building a professional website or evaluate the user experience, your website may be turning customers off from making a sale. To optimize your site, review website best practices and implement improvements like more intuitive navigation, clearer call-to-actions (CTAs), and a smoother checkout process, ensuring there are no distractions from sealing the sale.

Not Tapping Into Influencers

Influencer marketing is a growing tactic, and the industry is on track to be worth up to $15 billion by 2022.^[1] Active on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, influencers build large followings by creating engaging, consumer-driven content that keeps their followers tuned in. They then earn a profit by essentially “renting” their captive audience to brands through paid partnerships and sponsored content. Influencers’ audiences look to them to recommend products, services and already have established trust, so there’s great value in tapping into this tactic and exposing your brand to potential new customers. To learn more about connecting with influencers, get started here.

Blogging Inconsistently

Are you not seeing a lot of hits to your blog? It could be because you’re not updating it enough or using proper search engine optimization (SEO). Blogging drives traffic to your site, builds your brand identity, and positions you as an authority, so it’s well worth your time to generate regular content. By posting consistently, you show that you’re active, your business is healthy, and you give your audience a reason to return soon.

Not Using Social Media

Maybe you’ve tried to seek out a brand or product on Instagram or Facebook but are frustrated when you realize no page exists. These days, it’s essential to have a social media presence if you want to be seen and discovered, as that’s where many shoppers seek out information and connect with brands they like. The benefits run deep: you’ll grow your brand presence, strengthen loyalty, and find new customers to convert. Plus, social media can be a more human access point that allows a personal dialog between your brand and your customers. Once you’ve identified your target audience, as mentioned above, ensure you have an active social media account on the platforms they frequent most so you’ll be there when they look for you.

Did any of these marketing mistakes sound familiar? If so, the good news is that just by identifying your shortcomings, you’re already on the path to making positive changes and achieving greater business success.

^[1] Schomer, Amy. “Influencer Marketing: State of the social media influencer market in 2020.” BusinessInsider.com, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/influencer-marketing-report.