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It’s not uncommon for small business owners to be frustrated with their marketing. Because marketing is focused on creating leads and sales is focused on turning leads into customers, leaders often overvalue sales and ignore marketing.
After all, it’s hard to know exactly what you’re getting from marketing investments. It can feel like you’re spending money without clear returns. And when your resources are limited, that’s frustrating!
This article will look at four common marketing mistakes that small businesses can make, and how to fix them. When you take these steps, your marketing will work far better!
As you know, it’s pretty difficult to accomplish something if you don’t know what you’re aiming for. To make your marketing effective, you need to have clarity on the results you want.
For example, do you want your marketing to bring in four new leads a week? Or are you launching a campaign that you hope will give you a 20% increase in the sale of a particular product or service in the next month?
Setting those kinds of specific goals allows you to set a starting point and then measure your progress later. You’ll clearly see how many new leads you get, or how much your product sales increase. Then you’ll understand whether or not your marketing is working.
You undoubtedly provide a product or service that consumers need. Homeowners need help with plumbing, stylish women need a hair salon, and more. However, just knowing that people need what you offer isn’t enough.
You also need to give people a clear reason to buy from you instead of a competitor. Yes, a broken car needs a mechanic, but why your shop and not another one?
Answering this question requires you to create a unique selling proposition (USP). Your USP is the reason that you’re a better option than other shops in your industry. A USP needs to be focused on a difference that your customers value and are willing to pay for. For example, if your mechanic shop goes to customers’ homes to do onsite repairs, that’s a strong USP that sets you apart.
Other USPs include having quality that “lasts a lifetime”, or you might sell food that’s uniquely nutritious or ethically sourced. You might claim to be the absolute most of something, like Deathwish Coffee selling “the world’s strongest coffee.” You can appeal to your customers’ desires to get the most out of life or reach specific goals.
Once you settle on your USP it becomes the centre of your marketing message. So if you feel like your marketing isn’t working, ask yourself, “Why should someone buy from me instead of my competitor?”
Do you know what your marketing campaign is accomplishing? If not, it’s no wonder that you’re asking “Does marketing work?”
If you aren’t clearly measuring your results, you have no idea what return you’re getting on the investment in marketing. However, it can be challenging to measure results online, especially on platforms like social media.
Here are some ideas you can use:
However you do it, ensure that you know the results of each marketing outreach. That way you’ll understand what works and what doesn’t and can focus your budget accordingly.
A final common mistake we see is that many businesses don’t have a clear marketing plan. Instead, they do a few marketing campaigns when they have time but otherwise, ignore it. This is known as “random acts of marketing,” and it’s extremely ineffective.
If you want your marketing to work, you need to have a clear plan and schedule a consistent marketing outreach. For example, you post one blog per week to your website and share tips on social media three times a week.
It doesn’t have to be overwhelming — a small business can focus on the one to three platforms where its customers spend the most time. But it does have to be consistent.
Do you see yourself in any of these common mistakes? If so, don’t be upset. Instead, take the steps to correct the issue so that your marketing can be more effective.
Sometimes business owners simply don’t have the time to manage their own marketing the way it needs to be done. There’s no shame in that! We’re here to help. Let Local SEO Search take over your digital marketing and bring in great leads and ready-to-buy customers while you focus on your core business. Contact us today!
