Marketing is an essential for any kind of business, existing in any kind of niche. Your product could be as influential and as revolutionary as the television. However, if no one knows that it exists, you won’t make any sales. Obviously you understand why marketing is important, but are you going about it the right way? Dozens of new businesses with great potential fail in their opening period, simply because their marketing is planned and executed in the wrong way. I’m sure you don’t want this to happen, so read on! Here are some of the biggest marketing mistakes made by businesses, and how you can make sure you avoid them.
The first mistake you need to avoid is not pinning down an ideal customer. Some entrepreneurs launch with a fantastic product, but spend too much energy on the product itself. This is something you may be guilty of already. You probably know your product back to front, seen as you’ve been developing it for a long time. However, if you have no idea who would want or need the product, things will go downhill very quickly. This problem is especially prevalent with businesses selling a completely new invention. The founders of these businesses often believe that the product is so modern and “state-of-the-art” that everyone will rush out to buy it. This is the kind of naivety that you need to eradicate from your attitude. Every business needs to have an ideal customer in mind. Make sure you set aside some resources for narrowing down on a specific target market.
Another big mistake is failing to track the results of your marketing efforts. To be honest, this is much more prevalent with larger corporations. However, start-ups can still be guilty of this damaging marketing sin. Never change something about your marketing strategy, but then fail to measure its impact. If you get stuck in this habit, you’ll never know what works and what doesn’t. At the least, you should be tracking your traffic on Google analytics and the amount of conversions you get from PPC ads. Although marketing is centred on the digital arena, it’s important not to discount traditional marketing efforts. If you pay for a huge billboard somewhere, be sure to measure the amount of foot traffic or calls your building gets. Without measuring the effects of your advertising, you don’t know if you’ve hit the jackpot or you’re throwing your money away.
Failing to keep tabs on the competition is another damaging blunder to make. This mistake is a lot like failing to track results. Here, you have a great opportunity to figure out the best practices for your kind of business. Make sure you don’t let it go to waste! I know that spying on your competitors isn’t the most honourable thing in the world. Well, it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, especially when it comes to business! Be sure to keep a close eye on all your competition’s marketing efforts. It doesn’t matter if you’re the only business of its kind around for miles. Find a few companies selling the same thing as you, and study their marketing religiously. As you become more familiar with these businesses, you’ll start to notice certain patterns in the marketing tactics they use. You can then use these patterns to find out what works and what doesn’t. It’s extremely important to notice the methods they use repeatedly, and the ones which they use once, but never again. The tactics they use again and again are the winners, whereas one-offs probably don’t have that much return. Of course, copying your competition will only take you so far. Sometimes it can be a great move to use something more unique, which your competitors don’t touch. Live entertainment’s a pretty hot method these days. Through this, you can wow your target market with an engaging live spectacle. If you have the resources to set this up, learn about The POET Companies here.
Finally, outsourcing every little thing without understanding marketing yourself. If you make this mistake, you’re practically asking your marketing efforts to crash and burn. Even the CEOs of some of the largest companies on earth are guilty of this blunder. Make a point of avoiding it, and you’ll have much less to worry about as you move forward with your venture. I’m sure you can see the appeal here. If you don’t know the first thing about marketing, hiring someone to do all the work for you may seem like the next logical step. Obviously, this isn’t always a mistake. In fact, outsourcing marketing has saved many companies from going under. However, there are a few dangers tied to this. When you start browsing marketing companies, especially specialists like First Found, it can be hard to recognise expertise. Anyone can hire a web designer to give them a professional-looking website, and a copywriter to fill it with buzz words. However, this is no real reflection on how good at their job they are.
Some marketing companies can give you unrealistic expectations as well. A social company might promise you 1,000 new Facebook likes within a week. However, how do you know that those accounts will be active and beneficial? After you’ve looked around enough marketing companies, your view of the whole thing can end up pretty warped. You might hire in a PPC manager, thinking their campaign will double conversions within X amount of time. When this doesn’t happen, you may fire a perfectly competent consultant. Furthermore, if you outsource your marketing to several different specialists, they’ll all be working separately. The best marketing strategies always make their different areas complement each other. I know it may be tempting to make a payment and focus on other things. However, you should always educate yourself before outsourcing your marketing.
There you have some of the biggest marketing mistakes you can make. There are many others, but the ones in this list are by far the most damaging. Avoid these, and there’ll be nothing holding back your start up!
