Mastering your marketing efforts will ensure that your product or service stands out and keep your customers coming back. But there are mistakes that any small business should avoid when implementing its marketing strategy. Make sure your company doesn’t fall victim to these errors:
The Marketing Mix
Product
• Your product isn’t what customers truly need or want.
• Customers have no memorable experience when using your brand.
• The company fails to state the importance for the product it sells.
• The price of your product isn’t affordable.
• Value of your product doesn’t match with its price.
Place
• You’re targeting the wrong market.
• The venue your product is sold in isn’t correctly suited for where your customers shop.
• Your social media is being used for one-way communication or it’s too sales-y. The idea is to get feedback from your customers.
• Where you link with customers matters. Maybe you have a target audience that’s mobile; Twitter would be a good base for showing business updates or asking questions. If your firm works more with visuals then Pinterest or YouTube is more appropriate. Your B2B relationships can be maintained through LinkedIn. Be where your audience is.
• The identity of your target market will determine your technique. Place material on potential sites to spur interest and monitor the results.
Objectives
• Failing to set goals.
• You must track results. Not using free tools like Google Analytics to track effectiveness of marketing initiatives. By reviewing data, you’ll know what efforts are driving traffic and new leads and which are wasting time. You’ll be able to identify where time and money are best spent.
• Neglecting to put your customers and product before your message. How you offer your product to the audience won’t matter if they don’t care about what your product is or know how it meets their needs.
Promotion
• The business doesn’t differentiate itself from the competition. One of the best ways to gather ideas for your marketing efforts is to see what your competition is doing.
• You don’t focus on how you serve your customer.
• The information being communicated is irrelevant. Does what you’re saying pertain to the audience’s needs or interests?
• Social media, email blasts, newsletters, videos etc. need to be of VALUE. Before writing, posting or creating anything, consider how it will benefit your audience.
• Your posts should stimulate action. Where do you want customers to go, what should they see and what do they get in return?
