Introduction
A question for you: why do small-intermidiate businesses often struggle to grow and scale?
The reason can be either that they are trying to reinvent the wheel or that they don’t fill the knowledge gap between where they are right now and where they want to be.
Trying to reinvent the wheel aka wasting time and money on creating something that already exists, is a fatal mistake for any growing business. There are numerous systems and tools out there to complete the day-to-day activities of businesses.
That’s why they should spend time discovering and leveraging them rather than toiling timelessly. On the other hand, when they fail to fill the knowledge gap, it becomes difficult for them to figure out what to do next, why to do it, and how to do it.
As a result, they end up making the eleven common mistakes addressed below. Let’s explore each of them in detail and learn how to avoid them.
Mistake #1: Not having a clear marketing plan
Without a plan, you might go off track and waste time as well as resources on ineffective marketing efforts. That’s why it’s important to have a clear idea of who your target audience is, what your marketing goals are, and how you plan to reach them.
So, what should you do? Follow these steps before kickstarting your marketing.
- Identify your target audience
- Determine your budget
- Set marketing goals and objectives
- Research your competition
- Choose the right marketing channels for your business
Mistake #2: Ignoring the competitors
Isn’t focusing only on what you’re doing a good thing? It’s a good thing, but keeping an eye on your competitors will benefit you in endless ways.
Learning from your competitors is essential to identifying market gaps, enhancing your marketing strategies, staying ahead of them, and fast-tracking your business growth.
That’s why you should never ignore your competitors. And follow the steps given below to reap the results your business deserves.
Here’s what you should do:
- Keep track of your competitor’s activities
- Look for patterns and trends
- Pay attention to their customer reviews
- Learn from their mistakes and wins
- Look for ways to differentiate your business and stand out in the market
Mistake #3: Not understanding your audience
Did you know that the #1 step in crafting a successful marketing strategy is _____? Understanding your audience inside-out!
Understanding who your target audience is, their BFDs (beliefs, fears & desires), and what factors motivate them to purchase your product or service are highly important.
Why? If you don’t understand them, then you won’t be able to distribute personalized marketing messages. And personalized messages are the bridge that connects you and your audience together. If you can connect with them, the probability of converting them into your customers is more than 70%! Sounds good. isn’t?
So, what should you do about it?
- Create buyer personas
- Put yourself in the shoes of your audience and think like them!
- Investigate your customer base and interview your clients
- Conduct market research and surveys
- And don’t forget to analyze your competitors
Mistake #4: Being invisible by not focusing on brand awareness
Would you buy a product from a brand that you have never heard of, has no good reviews, or doesn’t even tell you how it can help you? The answer is “no, you wouldn’t!” Right?
Why? Because you are not aware of it, it doesn’t convey why you should buy it, and so you don’t trust it. That’s exactly how your target audience treats you when you fail to focus on brand awareness. Bottom line: brand awareness is inevitable for being visible to your target audience and for building trust and credibility.
So, what should you do? Focus on building your online presence, establishing your brand voice, building relationships with the audience, and educating them on why your offer is the ideal solution for their needs. And implement various strategies to potentially increase your brand’s presence.
For example:
- Leverage public relations (PR)
- Run social media contests
- Offer a freebie
- Partnerships and collaborations
- Content marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Social media marketing
- PPC advertising
Mistake #5: Ineffective branding
What helps you stand out from your competitors and attract the right customers? A strong, memorable, and authoritative brand.
Branding is important to boost the recognition of your brand, improve customer loyalty, and encourage customers to recommend your brand to their connections.
A consistent and effective branding strategy can assist you in building trust with customers, and establishing your brand as their go-to choice in your industry. In a nutshell, branding is the stepping stone for small businesses to step up to their next level. Ready to step up?
Let’s explore what you shouldn’t do in terms of branding:
- Not having a clear brand message
- Not having a consistent visual branding identity
- Not having a clear target audience
- Not being authentic
- Not being consistent
- Not differentiating your brand
Mistake #6: Not having a strong online presence
Does having a strong online presence matter? It does. If you don’t have a strong online presence yet, it’s not an issue. You can start now. But if you don’t want to have it, you’re leaving a lot on the table for sure.
Why? If you want to increase your visibility, enhance your customer engagement, build a matchless brand, leverage social media, attract more opportunities, stay ahead of your competitors, and generate more leads as well as sales, you definitely need an unshakable online presence in the digital age.
And here are a few tips for improving a small business’s online presence:
- Build a professional and responsive website
- Utilize social media to connect with customers
- Engage with customers through online reviews and ratings
- Use email marketing to stay top-of-mind with customers
Mistake #7: Unoptimized website and social media handles
Your website is your online storefront and can be a powerful marketing tool. Similarly, your social media handles are your digital business cards.
Within a short period of time, they can either impress or repel the visitors. And the result apparently depends on how optimized your handles and website are. Don’t you agree?
If you’re wondering about examples of unoptimized websites, here they are: slower loading time, not having a responsive website, complicated navigations, an unclear and unorganized layout, and so on… On the other hand, a lack of profile information, low-quality cover pictures, inconsistent branding, and random connections are some examples of an unoptimized social media handle.
So, what can you do about them?
- Keep your social media handles and website up-to-date
- Use relevant, compelling, and authoritative keywords
- Consistently create valuable content
- Have responsive website
- Reduce lower time
- Improve the UI & UX of your website
Mistake #8: You are not focused on retaining customers
Acquiring new clients is important. But retaining existing customers is undeniably more important. Isn’t it? According to an analysis in Forbes, “65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers.”
So, what is the key to retaining customers? Customer satisfaction. “Because 89% of companies say that excellent customer service plays a huge role in customer retention,” as reported by Semrush. Plus, customer loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing are the side benefits!
That’s why focusing on customer satisfaction and retention is essential, whether it’s a small, growing, or 7-figure business. With that being said, let’s look at some of the tips to improve customer satisfaction and retention.
- Under value and over deliver!
- Provide excellent customer service
- Personalize the customer experience
- Show appreciation via rewards.
- Be responsive & resolve issues quickly
Mistake #9: Not using the right marketing channels
Which marketing channel is the best one for you? Well, that depends on who your target audience is. Different marketing channels are effective for reaching different audiences.
For example, social media may be a great way to reach younger customers, while email marketing may be more effective for reaching an older audience.
So, how do you find the right one for you?
- Define your audience
- Know your options
- Analyze the channels that are most effective for reaching your target audience, and focus your marketing efforts on those channels.
Mistake #10: Not tracking marketing performance/results
Would you like to waste your money on ineffective strategies again and again? Absolutely, not! But that’s what happens when you don’t track the performance of your marketing efforts. Why? Because you wouldn’t know what is actually working and what isn’t.
Without this information, you won’t be able to make data-driven decisions about your marketing campaigns and allocate your resources in a way that will maximize your return on investment.
On the contrary, you will be able to identify opportunities for improvement, avoid wasting time and resources on ineffective strategies, and leverage the companies by keeping track of your marketing performance.
With that being said, let’s look at some tips to leverage your analytics:
- Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound)
marketing goals - Use the requisite tools to track and measure your marketing performance
(i.e., web analytics, social media analytics, email marketing tools, and more) - Develop key performance indicators (KPIs- ie., traffic, conversion rates, ROI, and customer retention rate)
- Periodically review & analyze your marketing data
- Leverage data by optimizing your marketing efforts
Mistake #11: Not investing in the right marketing strategies, right tools, and right people
Why is not investing in the right marketing strategies, tools, and people a BIG mistake? Because those three are the golden keys you need to unlock your untapped potential.
Failing to invest in them can deeply affect you in an endless number of ways. On the contrary, they reap revolutionary results! Here’s how:
- Right people empower your business by effectively implementing the requisite systems as well as strategies through their extensive expertise
- Right marketing strategies enable you to reach the target audience and effectively communicate the value of your products/service to them
- The right tools simplify and speed up your processes. And they track your marketing efforts, extract insights from the observations, and help improve the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Conclusion
With that said, you know what to do, what not to do, and why(s). Now, all you have to do is figure out how to implement the tips mentioned above and start capitalizing on them. Need a hand for executing those tips so you can start seeing real results? Learn how Saasmarketing.in can help you : )
