You don’t need us to tell you how important the strength of your marketing will be to your overall success in business. If you get it right, then your business can flourish; if you get it wrong, then you’ll face an uphill battle. Of course, any marketing is better than no marketing (within reason, anyway). But it’s not just a matter of getting some marketing strategies up and running that’ll make a difference. The quality of your strategies will be key. All too often, businesses make some mistakes that hold their marketing strategies back. In this blog, we’re going to run through some of the common errors, and offer advice on how you can avoid them.
Who You’re Talking To
You probably talk in a different way with your friends than you do with your grandparents. And there’s nothing wrong with that — in order to be engaging, we have to match our tone with whom we’re speaking, at least a little bit. When it comes to your marketing, it’ll be important to have an idea of who you’re trying to reach. You’d use a different voice and words if you were marketing to, say, hip millennials than you would if you were marketing to new mothers. Of course, in order to find the right voice, you’ll need to know who you’re talking to. This is where your market research will come in. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have a sense of who you’re trying to target. And that’ll help to drive the general tone of your marketing.
Lacking Specificity
It’s important to avoid saying anything controversial in your marketing campaigns. Unless you’re completely sure of your tone — and you truly believe it — then it’s a bit too risky; the capacity for the ad to backfire is too significant. However, that doesn’t mean that you should say the blandest thing ever. It should be interesting. Also, it should be specific. This is your chance to highlight your unique selling point, or, in other words, why a potential customer should choose you rather than a competitor. You’ve got just a few words to let your audience know what you’re all about. If you can’t think of what to say, then hire someone to do the job for you — the task is too important to get wrong.
Not Using Data Correctly
You’ll hope to get a decent return on the investment that you make with your marketing campaigns. If you don’t, then it’ll be a waste of money! Some companies send their messages out into the world with a scatter-gun approach, but this is not a smart approach. After all, it’s not as if everyone will be interested in your company. That’s not realistic. As such, your marketing should only target those people who are interested. You can do this by making the most of data. If you’re sending out printed materials, then working with a company that offers direct mailing data solutions can help. This will ensure that your printed items only go to people that have an interest in your brand. On social media, you can target your ads by specific age categories.
Only Targeting New Customers
You’ll hope to bring as many new customers on board as possible. However, that doesn’t mean that you should totally ignore your existing companies. It is much cheaper, not to mention straightforward, to retarget existing customers than it is to bring a new customer on board. So make sure that you’re dedicated some of your resources and time to your existing customers. A well-timed card through the door or email can yield more sales. After all, you already know that they’re interested in your company!
Small Budgets
There are ways to advertise your business for free. However, it’s unlikely that they’ll yield the results that you’re looking for. They should be considered the cherry on top of an actual marketing budget. Studies have shown that most companies spend around 10% of their budget on marketing — but many wish they’d spent more. That wish is justified. The simple fact is that the more you invest in your marketing, the greater returns you’ll get. Of course, no one wants to spend big sums of cash on marketing, but they do it for a reason — it works.
No End Goal
Every time that you market your business, you should do so with an end goal in mind. What is it that you’re trying to achieve from the campaign? Do you want to get more leads, more sales, more social media followers? If you don’t know what you’re trying to get to, then you’ll find it difficult to plan a route there.
No Measurement or Reviews
You might think that you’ve put together a great marketing campaign. But have you really? You won’t know until later on down the line. Following every campaign, it’s important to conduct a review in order to see what worked and what didn’t work. It’s not just about the numbers/return on investment. It’s about looking at which specific elements of the campaign were successful and which were failures. This information can help direct your future campaigns. After all, you’ll have all the data you need to put together strong campaigns in the future.
Same Old Tricks
Of course, you can’t expect to do the same thing over and over again, and continue to get results. Your marketing campaigns should be well-thought-out, and if you’re taking that approach, then they’ll naturally evolve. Every now and again, look at stepping up your campaigns. If you don’t, then your audience will only grow tired.
Risky Ads
Finally, be sure to avoid risky ads. These will nearly always get attention, but they’re not always the type of attention that you want. Indeed, there are some companies who have had to go on heavy PR campaigns to win back lost customers. It’s fine to have an opinion — in fact, you should — but putting together a tweet just to generate controversy is generally an idea that’s best to be avoided.