Eek – seven marketing mistakes that could destroy your business is a title that can send you running for the hills. We don’t want to scare you. But too many businesses have sailed on their merry way before being pulled under the current of their competitors due to these marketing mistakes.
And the best way to avoid them is to be aware.
Marketing mistake #1 – you don’t know your USP. Worse yet, you’re scratching your head right now wondering what USP means.
Your USP – or unique selling proposition – is one of the most valuable assets your business can have. It’s the one thing that makes your business stand out from your competitors. It’s the reason your customers should buy from you and not someone else.
In fact, your USP should be the central message or theme across all of your marketing efforts.
Now before you jump ahead and start defining yourself simply as better than your competitors. STOP! A vague USP around being better or more highly rated than your competitors won’t get you far.
Your USP starts with your why. Why would your customers choose your services, products or business over others? Once you’ve defined that message, everything else will fall into place.
Marketing mistake #2 – you have no idea who will actually buy your products or services.
Are you marketing across all the channels? Letting people know how great your products or services are in any way possible? Throwing your fishing rod into a big pool of many species of fish and hoping for a few bites?
The same bait doesn’t work for every customer. You’re having eggs on toast for dinner – guaranteed.
When it comes to marketing your business, if you are trying to talk to any person who will listen, you probably aren’t actually reaching anyone. Generic messaging doesn’t cut it. You need to have an understanding of your audience and communicate with them in the way and with the messaging that works best for them.
It’s important to take the time to understand who will benefit from your products or services – and we mean really understand them. Where do they spend their time, what are their demographics, what are their hobbies, do they have careers, where do they live, why would they use your products/services over others?
Marketing mistake #3 – you don’t track your marketing performance.
Modern technology has empowered businesses to gain valuable insights into how every marketing dollar is working for you. In the past, it was easy to spend your marketing budget on television ads, print ads, and other traditional marketing methods that are difficult to measure. But with the evolution of marketing and power of digital marketing, today you can put a dollar figure outcome against a marketing campaign that you invest in.
It’s important that you do take the time to track and measure your marketing outcomes across all activities. And to do so, you need to start with a goal for every marketing activity you undertake. Without creating performance goals and measuring your marketing activity outcomes, you could be throwing money away that could be better spent elsewhere.
Marketing mistake #4 – you aren’t making the most of your marketing content.
Many businesses make the mistake of investing time and resources into creating an article or piece of marketing content, but then fail to make the most of that investment.
Our philosophy at The Marketing GP is to use one piece of marketing content many ways. You can do a lot of things with one article – create an infographic from the key points, use it to develop a LinkedIn post and Facebook ad (but make sure you avoid these five Facebook ad mistakes), design a blog quote image, repurpose it for a media article, link it in an email signature.
You’ve worked hard to create a solid piece of marketing content, so make sure you get the most out of it.
Marketing mistake #5 – your business doesn’t invest in marketing at all.
The number one marketing mistake your business can make is to not do marketing at all.
Many businesses struggle from the outset because they have not allocated a budget towards marketing. Some do so out of fear or uncertainty around using their finances on the unknown, whilst others are unaware of the real value marketing presents for business growth.
Not marketing is one of the fastest ways of sinking your metaphorical business ship. Under investing or not investing in marketing at all can mean you are missing out on enquiries and sales. It can also put you far behind competitors, who are putting value into their marketing activities.
On the flipside, overspending on your marketing and not tracking your performance can lead to cash flow issues.
Many businesses start by spending an average of 10 per cent of their overall budget on their marketing activities. Many, however, look back and wish they’d spent more. Find the magic spot for your business and start making an investment that will do wonders for your growth.
Marketing mistake #6 – you aren’t adapting your marketing to new technologies and methods.
When was the last time you did something new with your marketing? Tried a new channel? Created products or services for a new audience?
If you want to succeed, you need to be willing to grow and evolve to your climate, the business and your audience’s needs, and to new technologies. Yes, that will take some experimentation with your marketing. But without taking that risk, you will find it difficult to stay ahead of competition and be profitable in a world that is constantly changing.
If doing new things is a little outside your comfort zone, work with a marketing agency that can help you find the right new strategies to utilise for the best result.
Marketing mistake #7 – you are paying for technology that doesn’t talk to each other.
Over the years, has your business hacked together multiple marketing and sales solutions to create one multi-armed technology beast?
Marketing software Frankensteins are not unusual, as business owners bring together different software that tick the box in one area of their marketing.
Using many, disconnected systems can work, we’re not denying it. But when you add it all up – monthly fees, setup costs and upgrades – it can be costly. And it consumes a lot of one very important resource – your time!
You need more time to learn, set up, monitor and implement multiple systems. And you run the risk that your brand is damaged if you aren’t being consistent across the board.
That’s why we always recommend a single system that ticks many boxes from one place. Click here to find out which system we recommend.
Holly Martin
As Chief Marketer and Founder, my strengths lie in my ability to see the entire playing field for our many clients.
