Marketing isn’t rocket science, but it does take experience to do it well. Yet many businesses don’t have the time or the money to fail in marketing. To help, we’ve put together the seven biggest sins (ahem, mistakes) businesses make. Our goal is that this information helps you do marketing a little better in 2020.
Not understanding your target audience.
One of the most important things any business owner or marketer should do is take a deep dive discovery into the type of customers best suited for the business. Your business isn’t going to be right for everyone, and that is okay. Understanding who your ideal customers are and the best way to reach them will help you market more effectively. Effectively marketing to someone over 60 requires different tactics than marketing to someone who is 20. Understanding the difference will allow you to spend your marketing budget more wisely and help you attract the right customers.
Relying on one marketing tactic to bring in new business.
Putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good thing. The same is true for marketing. Today’s consumers consume content and make buying decisions in a variety of ways. If you expect one marketing tactic to bring enough customers, you may be limiting growth. Instead, diversify your tactics to include PR, email, social media, and referral marketing. Direct mail and media buys may also be a great option depending on your budget and target audience. Regardless of your budget, savvy marketers can find ways to diversify without breaking the bank.
Not responding to comments, reviews, and posts made about you online.
Consumers write reviews online for two reasons: to praise or complain. Both should be responded to quickly and professionally. Healthcare organizations must also consider HIPAA when crafting their responses. Ignoring a comment/review/post is akin to ignoring a customer. It shouldn’t be done. If you value your customers for the important people they are, their voice should be heard. According to recent research, friends, family, and Google are the top places consumers learn about businesses. If you aren’t paying attention to what is being said about you online, it can hurt your credibility. Encourage people to write reviews and be sure to respond to them.
Not collecting email addresses for leads and customers.
Email marketing is an oldie but a goodie, and it will be around for a long while. If you aren’t capitalizing on the leads and customers you currently have, you are missing out. Email marketing shouldn’t be limited to just text. Consumers inboxes are full of businesses vying for attention. Help your emails stand out by incorporating interactivity. Features like polls, videos, GIFs, and gamified content will help make your emails more interesting to the recipient. We recommend adding subscriber controls so contacts can choose the frequency and content they want to receive to reduce unsubscribe rates.
Not taking care of your customers.
Customers are the lifeblood of a business. If you don’t take care of them, they will go elsewhere and won’t be shy about letting others know about their experience in the process. Sadly, expectations about customer service are low. Differentiate your business from others by treating customers like the beautiful people they are. Focus on delivering WOW customer experiences throughout the entire buying process. Each encounter – whether by phone, video, or in-person, should be a pleasurable experience. A warm, friendly voice and a smiling face make all the difference. Help the customer feel like they are the most important person to you at that very moment. Give it a try and notice how giving your full attention to a customer makes them feel as though they matter.
Poorly edited content.
No matter where they occur, spelling and grammatical errors can reflect poorly on your business. Mistakes happen. We make them too! Don’t be in such a hurry, though, that you overlook spelling and grammatical errors. And when you write something, don’t publish it right away. Walk away or sleep on it and then come back to it with fresh eyes. As an agency that does a lot of content marketing writing, we almost always find things to edit when we revisit a piece of content.
Not tracking results.
Every business should track their marketing campaigns to ensure marketing dollars are being spent effectively. Sometimes little things like the images used in a campaign can make all the difference in how well it is received. If you aren’t paying attention, you won’t know how your content is being received. No matter if the content is a billboard, social media post, or radio spot, keep track of the results and don’t be afraid to pivot if something isn’t working.