Small businesses often lack the financial resources and time to invest in complex marketing strategies that achieve significant results. However, some simple tactics will improve your presence and increase your ROI. Start avoiding the common marketing mistakes we see small businesses make, and you’ll discover that your time and budget will be well spent.
In this blog, we do more than identify mistakes—we suggest concrete and actionable solutions to avoid big-ticket pitfalls.
Five Marketing Mistakes and Solutions
- Lack of a Clear Brand Identity
Your brand identity includes logos, messaging, and a unique selling proposition. When it’s inconsistent, new and current customers can become confused, decreasing your business’s marketing impact and diminishing trust. Establish your company’s image and story in a way that directly speaks to your target audience visually and verbally. Then, create a brand guide that ensures your team consistently adheres to the established brand identity, and watch your brand awareness grow!
- Targeting the Masses
Not dialing in your audience is a costly and common marketing mistake. It’s one of the fastest ways to blow your valuable budget, reducing messaging efforts and resulting in little to no ROI. “It’s important to be where your audience of potential customers is today and where they might be tomorrow,” comments Andrew Delaney, Senior Manager of Social Media at HubSpot. Learning about your target audience has never been easier or more fun. Use tools like surveys, customer feedback, and analytics. Next, build a detailed audience persona and take accurate aim!
“Numbers don’t lie, so track performance rather than guess what’s working.“
- Ignoring Digital Presence
Your brand’s digital footprint is crucial to a powerful marketing strategy. Neglecting your website and social media accounts can harm your authenticity and limit your brand’s potential. Another avoidable misstep is not having an accurate Google Business Profile, where people go to find your website, hours, and reviews. Sidestep these costly mistakes with regular website updates, consistent, engaging social media content, and a Google Business Profile that puts your business on the map.
- Overlooking Analytics
Numbers don’t lie, so track performance rather than guess what’s working. “Time and money are your scarcest resources. You want to make sure you’re allocating them in the highest-impact areas. Data reveals impact, and with data, you can bring more science to your decisions,” says Matt Trifiro, Chief Marketing Officer of Vapor IO. Learn what’s important (engagement/ROI) and what’s not (likes/views). There are great (some even free!) tools like Google Analytics and HubSpot that provide invaluable insights. Review monthly stats and adjust your small business’s strategies for the best results.
Identify the areas where professional help will ease the burden and improve results.
- Marketing Without Expertise
Attempting to cut costs and handle marketing in-house is understandable. However, you’ll likely spend more in the long run without expertise in crucial areas like design, SEO strategies, copywriting, and strategy. Identify the areas where professional help will ease the burden and improve results. Then, focus on what you do best.
A Little Marketing Help Goes a Long Way
Avoiding these common marketing mistakes is manageable for small businesses. You don’t need a massive budget or years of experience. By refining your brand identity, targeting the right audience, strengthening your digital presence, leveraging analytics, and asking for help when needed, your marketing efforts will deliver the results that build lasting success.
Need help building a more productive marketing plan? We offer marketing strategy consulting that puts businesses on the path to success. Contact us today to talk for free!
Courtenay is the agency’s Creative Content Director. Her talents include short and long-form blogs, video and radio scripts, social media strategy and implementation, email marketing, and word chopping. Give her 1,000 words and she’ll give you back 500.