Marketing mistakes to avoid making with your business

It’s easy to make mistakes when it comes to marketing.

So, without further ado, let’s cut to the chase and look at the mistakes you don’t want to make when it comes to marketing your business.

1. Making marketing the first expense that your business cuts

Many businesses just pull the plug on their marketing efforts if they don’t see a fantastic return straightaway. On one hand, it’s easy to see why this happens. Unlike many of the other costs that a business faces, a marketing budget is relatively easy to cut. You can hit pause on Facebook ad campaign. You can shut down an email marketing campaign. You can give up on social media altogether.

But this is false economy. After all, you can never save your way to profitability. Marketing is the ultimate Catch-22. You can’t raise awareness, generate leads and build a brand without spending money on marketing. Word of mouth and referrals are great, but there’s a limit to how far they will take you.

Most businesses need to find something else from somewhere.

That ‘somewhere’ is marketing.

2. Not giving your marketing enough time

The internet is an insanely busy place. It’s increasingly difficult to cut through all the noise – but with expertise, consistency and, above all, excellent content it can still be done. Okay, so your business may never reach Kardashian levels of followers on Instagram. You might never have a post that goes viral – but that doesn’t mean that digital marketing isn’t worth doing.

But you need to give it time…

3. Not having a long-term mindset

The old marketing ‘rule of 7’ might be slightly outdated, but frequency and repetition are still important.

Most potential customers will not act the first time they see an ad, blog, or social media post. Most will not act the second, third, fourth or even fifth time.

It takes time to establish a value proposition. Brand awareness takes time. Some direct-response marketing campaigns can yield short-term results, but most forms of marketing require a longer-term investment of time and money to pay off.

The internet probably doesn’t need another blog post stuffed full of stats, but it is worth remembering that businesses who adopt content marketing get more leads than those that don’t (around 6x more). Almost half of buyers see between 3-5 pieces of content before they even engage with a brand.

In it to win it: the long haul not a quick fix

You need to be in it for the long haul. With social media, many businesses ‘dip their toes’ but don’t get really stuck in. You really need to give things 3-6 months, just for starters.

The same is true with blogs. Some businesses adopt the ‘Let’s try it for 2 or 3 months and see what happens’ approach.

But half-heartedness rarely ends well. Expert opinion suggests that it takes more like 30 months - rather than 3 - to see content marketing really pay off.

To be successful with content marketing you need to be consistent and persistent.

Here’s what I can offer your business:

· Blog content that is original and relevant. Social media posting that is a thoughtful blend of content creation and content curation.

· A content marketing strategy that is focused on brand storytelling, and making your business stand out as a thought leader in your field. The emphasis will always be on maintaining a consistent and engaging voice - and creating and sharing high quality content.

· Making the most of influencer marketing, voice control & search, paid campaigns - and looking at ways of incorporating video, podcasts and stories into your marketing strategy.

Get in touch to find out more and to get your content marketing strategy up and running.

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