5 marketing mistakes holding your small business back

Most small businesses are making the same handful of mistakes without even realising it. From trying to market without a strategy to forgetting about the customer experience, these slip-ups can cost you time, money and momentum.

Here are the same 5 mistakes we keep seeing, so here’s how we’d fix them.

1. Not having a marketing strategy

Think of your marketing strategy as your GPS  it keeps you aligned with your goals and guides every post, ad and campaign. Without it? It's just guesswork.

Create a plan, define your goals, set your objectives and align it with your audience, simple. If you don’t have a strategy, you are not alone, 74% of small and medium businesses say they lack confidence in their marketing strategies.

According to a report by CoSchedule, organised marketers are 674% more likely to be successful, so setting time aside to create one, or asking for help from a professional marketer will only benefit you.

2. Ideal customer, who?

   
   

If you don’t know who your ideal customer is, how can you expect to reach them? Without clarity, you risk throwing time and money into the ether. Creating a customer profile is a perfect place to start and should contain all the good stuff about your ideal customers, making it easier to understand and reach them.

To create a customer profile, visualise who you’re marketing to, the clearer the picture, the easier it is to craft messaging that clicks, ask yourself things like:

• Where are they hanging out?

• What content are they engaging with?

• What questions are they asking?

• What do they already like?

• What are their pain points?

Remember: you don’t need to squeeze everyone into one box. Create as many profiles as you need so you can tailor content that truly resonates.

3. It's all sell, sell, sell

Customers buy from businesses they trust. Creating a positive and engaging online experience fosters loyalty and turns customers into brand advocates. If all you do is sell, you’re walking down a one-way street to nowhere.

People want to know: what are they going to gain from you? who’s behind the brand? What’s the purpose? Show some personality and build a community to turn your customers into superfans who bring their friends along too.

Pro tip: reply to DMs, answer emails, pick up the phone. Speaking directly to your customers is the best way to know what’s working (and what isn’t).

4. No time for stats

   
   

Data doesn’t have to be scary, think of it as feedback in numbers that's going to help you successfully measure how well your digital marketing efforts are doing. That way you know what works and what doesn’t and it can help you fix, optimise or scrap what you’re doing altogether.

According to Forbes, delving too much into the world of analytics can harm your marketing strategy so start with a few key performance indicators (KPIs) and work backwards. Three main KPIs your business can track are:

• Impressions – how often your content is displayed (good for brand awareness).

• Click-through rate (CTR) – shows how well your content and ads resonate.

• ROI – return on investment (how much you put in vs. how much you get out). Find out how to calculate your ROI.

5. Offering up clunky user experiences

The XM Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report 2023 found that 88% of users are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience.

Delivering a seamless customer experience (also known as UX) is imperative when thinking about marketing to your customers. If your site loads slowly, looks messy, or makes booking impossible, customers will leave in seconds and with so much competition just a scroll away, they won’t be back.

By understanding your customer, you will have a better understanding of what they want from a product or service so when they finally reach your website everything they need will be in the right place.

Pro tip: never send people to a generic homepage, always link directly to the product, service, or offer you’re advertising.

At Vala, our goal is to empower your business, creating a seamless partnership that keeps you in the loop and excited about every milestone, turning your marketing goals into reality. We'll bring fresh ideas and adjustments to your strategy, so it's perfectly tailored to connect with your audience and drive real data-driven results. 

If you need some support, contact us today.