Most people think about marketing when they think about small businesses, but doing marketing right takes a lot of attention to detail and a bit of planning. This is especially true when you’re doing online marketing. There are lots of pitfalls that you can fall into if you’re not careful, leading to you losing potential customers and wasting your time. With that said, here are some of the most common problems that savvy small business owners have with online marketing and how to avoid them.
Lack Of Focus
The first step to successfully doing online marketing is focusing on the right audience. The most common pitfall is trying to reach too many people with your marketing efforts, especially when you’re starting out. You want to find the right audience that will benefit from your product and the kind of content that you create. Otherwise, your efforts might go to waste. Take your time finding the right people and build a community of like-minded customers. Then, you can expand your reach by word of mouth and other digital marketing methods.
Not Having A Plan
Every successful business owner or marketer has a plan. They may not always like to admit it, but they know that having a plan and sticking to it makes or breaks their business. It doesn’t matter if you’re operating a solo practice or have employees, everyone in the company needs to know what you’re planning and why you’re planning it. This way, nobody gets left behind in the confusion and everyone is on the same page. As a solo entrepreneur, you might find it slightly more challenging to get everyone to pull in the same direction, but it’s still essential to do so. If you’re looking for a team of professionals to help you with your marketing, consider Hannon Lifestyle Solutions. We can help you plan out a comprehensive strategy that will get your business the recognition that it deserves.
Content Is Shoddy
Even those who claim that they love to write can fall into the trap of trying to get something done in a hurry. For whatever reason, they might think that they can get the content done and put it out there and then start marketing. However, oftentimes, the content that you create for the purpose of marketing simply isn’t up to scratch. The last thing you want to do is insult your audience by giving them bad content to read. Make sure that every piece of content that you put out there is of a high quality and offers something new and exciting to read. If you’re looking for content that’s been done for you, consider Outbrain, a top content marketing platform that can help you find the best content for your target audience.
Unfamiliar With Analytics
If you’re not equipped well with analytics, it’s really difficult to know what’s working and what’s not. Without knowing exactly what’s bringing in the readers and what’s driving them away, it’s nearly impossible to work out a strategy that will make your site or blog more successful. One of the first things you should do is learn how to use Google Analytics. This free tool will give you all the details that you need to know about the visitors to your site. From there, you can work out what works and what doesn’t by studying the data. With that information at hand, you can continue to build and grow your business successfully.
Marketing To A Mass Audience
One of the biggest mistakes that new business owners make is trying to reach as many people as possible with their marketing efforts. After all, more people means more potential customers, right? This is particularly true when you’re starting out. If you’re looking to grow your business, build a brand, and earn some money, going wide is typically the first thing that people suggest. However, doing so can come with lots of pitfalls. When you’re starting out, it’s better to find a niche market or a small group of people that are interested in your product and then expand from there. If you want to reach the largest audience possible, consider looking for ways to get listed on Google and other search engines. This will allow you to appear when someone types in a search term related to your business. At the end of the day, your product or service might be of interest to people searching for information, but it’s not always the case. If you want to increase your chances of being found when someone is searching for your product, work on increasing the sites ranking for relevant keywords. Creating high-quality content that’s informative and interesting can also boost your chances of being found when someone is searching for your product.
Not Having The Right Tools
There are lots of tools out there to help you with your online marketing, but not all of them will make your job easier. Some tools can do everything for you while others might only do part of what you need. When choosing tools for your business, make sure that you pick those that will make your life easier and less stressful. These tools can also help you plan out your strategy and keep track of the results of your efforts. A good tool for this purpose is HubSpot, which can help you plan out your marketing and get notifications when new leads come in.
Starting Out Slow
It’s always better to take your time to establish yourself. When you’re first starting out, it’s important to make sure that you invest in building up your client base. This means creating content regularly and connecting with potential clients via social media. It might also mean spending a little bit of money on some ads to gain some credibility. However, once you’ve established yourself, you can move onto other marketing tactics like SEO or content curation to gain more traffic and leads. Don’t be afraid to spend money on ads if this is the only way that you can gain the traction that you need to succeed. Established businesses that have been around for a while typically don’t have to rely on ads as much to gain popularity. They have loyal customers that will visit their site or download their app regularly.
Content Algorithm
Depending on your strategy, you might want to consider creating content in a different way. There are lots of tools out there that can help you automate the process of creating content. For example, HubSpot can help you create and distribute content to a specific group of people. Through machine learning, HubSpot learns from your interactions and then creates content that is personalized for you.
Neglecting The Basics
In the same way that you wouldn’t set up a WordPress website without having a domain name or purchasing hosting, you shouldn’t approach online marketing without taking care of the basics. This includes making sure that your website is secure, backed up, and accessible. Sometimes, marketers will overlook these basic steps and go into overdrive, creating hundreds of articles in a short amount of time. While this might get you lots of attention and potential customers, it won’t always be a good idea. Make sure that your website is set up correctly before you get too carried away.
Focusing On The Wrong Things
As we’ve established, there are lots of pitfalls that you need to watch out for if you want to do online marketing successfully. One of the things that you might do is try to reach out to as many people as possible with your marketing efforts, even if this means going after the wrong audience. For example, if you’re selling organic baby food and your target audience is mostly made up of parents, it might be a good idea to market to children. Similarly, if you’re marketing a travel agency and your target audience is mostly people in the UK who want to travel to Spain, it might be a good idea to market to British expats in Spain.
If you’re not sure where to start, consider talking to an expert who can advise you on the best approach for your business. Just keep in mind that if you’re doing things the wrong way, you might not end up with the results that you’re looking for. Then, it’s back to the drawing board.