It’s very easy to underestimate the effort that goes into marketing. Many people think it’s an easy task. Be creative and draw in customers, how hard could that really be? As with anything in life, companies setting out on a marketing journey are bound to make mistakes. Some campaigns hit the mark, others are miles off aim. Marketing is a moving target, but not all is lost!
Checkout some common mistakes that businesses make when marketing (And how TO FIX THEM!)
1. NOT TRACKING YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS
Without tracking your marketing, it is impossible to know what works and what doesn’t. It is a common mistake for a business to neglect data efforts but marketing data should be your best friend. There is no way to measure ROI without some sort of tracking system and each channel has different tools. Just like a POS system helps track sales, social media platforms offer data on click-through rates and engagement and digital campaigns can use Google Analytics to track conversions. Adding QR codes to printed pieces can also help track engagement and web traffic. Whatever the tool, make sure you are using this data to your advantage: it is your most powerful tool.
2. YOU HAVE NO MARKETING PLAN OR SET GOALS
Many companies approach their marketing as single pieces of content. When there is no goal or aligning strategy, you can be wasting both time and dollars on marketing efforts that do not work. While creating a marketing plan, there are experts that can help your team determine what channels work best for your business! Don’t be afraid to ask for help with marketing so you can focus on running your business.
3. IGNORING YOUR COMPETITORS
Want to learn from mistakes before making them? Or looking for the next big customer trend in your industry? Forbes contributor John Rampton suggested selecting three business competitors and studying their marketing. Figure out what they used to offer but are no longer running, check out their social media, and see what their online reviews are saying. Use their successes and failures to your advantage!
4. OFF-TARGET MARKETING
Audience is the most important aspect of marketing and surprisingly an area where many marketers make mistakes. Understanding your current customers is crucial to gaining new customers in the future. It ensures you are sharing messages (and spending marketing dollars) in the places that are most effective and lead to business growth.
For example, a restaurant that primarily caters to families should not be marketing to someone searching for a trendy eatery. The two audiences are in completely different fields. CMO reported that selling to an existing customer has a probability rate of 60 to 70 percent. For a new customer that number is a mere 5 to 20 percent.
5. IGNORING THE POWER OF MOBILE
Next time you are out in public – whether grocery shopping, at a restaurant, or an amusement park – look around and you will see the abundance of mobile devices. The majority of the population keeps their cell phones on them at all times (even when sleeping!) You can use this to your advantage by using marketing techniques such as geofencing.
Geofencing allows you to target marketing messages based on where your customers have been in the recent past, including competitor locations! It allows you to keep your marketing on-target, with less waste than traditional digital advertising at a lower cost.
