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‘A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.’

Marketing is imperative for your business to succeed but getting it right can be tricky with so many options and with so many social media platforms.  You know that you should be doing more marketing online and doing it more effectively, but it can be confusing. Mistakes are being made that should be avoided at all cost.

We have all heard the statistics that between 80% – 90% of small businesses fail!  Unfortunately, just having a good idea, product or service isn’t enough if leads aren’t being generated to bring in business.  Many businesses find that digital marketing just takes a lot of time and generates minimal or no results.

In this guide, I’m going to give you 8 tips on where small businesses are failing and what you need to do to take your business to the next level. 

You need to get the basics right so you can build trust, reputation and authority – exactly what is required to get results from your marketing.

1. Dated Website or Landing Pages

Your website is the basis of your online presence or your digital hub which all your other marketing leads to. If your website is out of date, doesn’t load properly, has broken links, poor navigation or has content that isn’t relevant – then you need to fix it urgently.  The point of all of your online marketing is to get people to your website or landing pages to convert them into customers or clients.  Website design does evolve, and you can’t just put a website up and think you will never have to redesign it.  If your website is old and out of date, find a good website company to give you some advice and get it fixed. It will be money well spent.

2. Ignoring Mobile

With roughly 80% of Australians owning smartphones, the last thing you should do is ignore mobile.  There is more search, shopping and connecting now taking place on mobile devices than desktop. Your website needs to be mobile responsive.  This means the design will adapt for easy viewing on all mobile devices including tablets, iPads and smartphones.  If your website needs to be zoomed to be read, your visitors will just leave and go elsewhere.   Apps, SMS messaging, search engine marketing on mobile and even mobile ads may suit your business and strategy.

3. No Clear Brand Message

Do you have a clear brand message?  How your brand is positioned, who your target market is, and what your brand message is, makes a huge difference to your success online.  Your website, logo, colours, images, and content should all be created to reflect your brand.  Your brand is the personality of your business and needs to be consistent.  This means in your website and marketing (including social media).  It also means in the way you look after your clients and how you and your staff interact with your clients.  Consider branding yourself as part of your strategy as your customers will connect more easily with a ‘face’ than a logo.   

4. No Strategy for Marketing (including Social Media)

Online marketing is no different to offline marketing.  You need a strategy to know who you’re targeting, how you’re targeting them and what outcome you want. Unless you’re clear about your brand, business and target market, you will be shooting at the stars. You need to understand where your customers or clients are hanging out online and where they will be looking for you.  If you sell to other businesses, B2B, then Google AdWords and SEO (search engine optimisation) may be considered.  Business to consumer (B2C) will need a different strategy.  If you don’t have the staff to put together a marketing plan, find a good agency or marketing strategist who can.

Likewise, with social media – you need a strategy.  There is no point just aimlessly posting images, content and videos. It can be loads of fun hanging out on social media platforms but if you don’t have a clear strategy, you will just waste a lot of time and get no results.  Your strategy must include getting those followers off the social media platforms and onto your website so that you can collect their details into your database for ongoing marketing or to sell to them.  To do this effectively you will need to incorporate a good marketing funnel.

5. Not Using Email Marketing

No matter what people say about email being dead and SMS taking over, take it with a grain of salt.  Email marketing is highly effective.  The social media platforms you use can change their algorithms in a heartbeat and you can lose your following – and there is nothing you can do about it.  So, the aim is to get your followers off the social media platforms and into your own list or database.  One of the best ways to do this is to offer them something of value for free so that they cannot refuse the offer.  You know your target market better than anyone, so think about what will entice them. 

It’s important to stay top of mind to your current clients and customers as well as to new ones.  If you have an eCommerce store, then you should be letting your customers know about sales, new products, discounts, and any special offers for events like Mother’s Day or Xmas.  If you offer a service, it is no different.  Stay in touch with new services, updates on current services, industry alerts and anything else that maybe interesting or useful for them.  Remember, you need to position yourself as the ‘expert’ in your field so when they are ready to buy, you will be top of mind.

6. Inadequate Budget

Gone are the days where you get organic results easily on Google or social media platforms.  The internet is huge, and everyone wants top positions and lots of followers.  These days you need to have a budget if you want results whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram or depending on your business, on Google via Google AdWords or Retargeting.  Each industry and target market can be different so if you are unsure of setting up ads and monitoring the results, get an agency who knows what they are doing to help you. 

7. Not Measuring Results

All marketing, whether online or offline, needs to be measured to see what is working and what isn’t.  There are lots of analytics software but one of the most popular is Google Analytics and it’s free.  You can link it to your website and then measure your traffic and where it is coming from.  As long as your social media is also linked to your website, you can also measure your social media traffic.  You can see how long your visitors stayed on your site and which pages they clicked on.  Pixels, like the Facebook Pixel, can be attached to your website and will help you monitor results such as sales which come directly from your ads. 

You can also retarget those visitors so that your ads literally ‘follow’ them.  This means that you know exactly who you’re advertising to and whether you are converting to them to sales.  There is no point paying for ads and not monitoring how that ad is going.  Most of the social media platforms have their own analytics as well so you can monitor traffic on those platforms.

8. Lack of Resources & Persistence

Building a website that’s properly set up for Google and SEO is a skill and if you don’t have staff who know what they’re doing, going for a free option is a huge mistake that will cost you dearly in the long run.  The same goes for your marketing and social media.  If your staff have no idea what they are doing, you need to pay for help so that someone with experience can guide you to get the results you deserve. 

Being successful online takes persistence and consistency and some of it takes skill. There are certainly aspects your staff will be able to take over and manage once you’re set up and ready to go. Most good websites these days should be editable for images and content but get it all set up properly to start off.  Start your marketing off with a strategy so that you know who you are targeting and how.  Again, once this has been worked out there will be aspects your staff can take over and manage.  Your success online will definitely pay off if you have persistence and consistency provided your basics are right.

In summary, businesses need to get their basics right:

  • A good website or landing pages
  • Don’t ignore mobile
  • A clear brand strategy
  • A tight marketing and social media strategy to grow your database
  • Include email marketing
  • Measure and test and tweak
  • Be persistent and consistent

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Judith Shuttleworth

Judith Shuttleworth is the owner of HotsWots Digital and a Director of Open House ID, an app for real estate agents. We have a range of expertise in all aspects of digital marketing and provide personal customer service. Your success is our motivation.

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