Marketing can be daunting and sometimes you don’t know where to start but our top 10 problems can help you avoid what not to do.
10- Lack of Initial Research
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Research is essential to any marketing activity. It will give purpose and direction to your plan.
There are many tools out there that can help you see how people search online; use this information and tailor your website to incorporate these search terms.
Competition can be useful, believe it or not - study and take note. See what works for them and allow your business not to be similar, but better.
9- Lack of Objectives
If you haven’t done your research you’ll struggle to make objectives, without asking “So, what do we do now?” Objectives are the backbone to any plan, they make progress measureable and judge success.
When setting objectives consider using techniques such as SMARTER goals to make sure you’re always clear of what you’re doing and what’s next.
8- Inconsistency
Consistency gives clarity. All business channels must display the same messaging and content. Inconsistent messaging can leave people confused, and doing business elsewhere.
Businesses can have multiple functions therefore email content must match social content which must also match the website content and so on.
Formality must be consistent, an informal social media account will contradict a formal website. This will leave people unclear of your message and of exactly who you and your brand are. Select the tone of how you want to communicate your business and stick to it.
7- Poor Channel Selection
It’s all well and good having every single social media account possible, but do you really use them?
Using the correct channel for your target audience is essential for marketing, because wasting time on irrelevant social media is pointless.
Step back, assess which ones get the most involvement from your target audience and put all your effort into those channels. This will be a more efficient and successful way of using your channels.
6- Kill the Oversell
Advertisements can become repetitive, social media followers can become bored of consistently being reminded of your sales and products, although this is important. Give your company personality, share knowledge, advice and tips anything which can entertain your audience. This will help when you do come to advertise.
5- Lack of Diversity
There is a vast selection of content to post online, content doesn’t only have to be sales based. Similar to “killing the oversell” the format of messages should be different.
A blog is a great way of communicating and adding content to a site. Other ways of creating diversity are using photos, and also videos.
If research has been done, you’ll know exactly the best ways to interact with the consumer, creating an engaging combination for your chosen audience.
4- Unmeasurable Results
Any marketing activity should expect to have a return on investment to be successful, yet this must be a gradual process.
When implementing strategy there must be an aim. This must be supported with regular objectives, which when completed will lead to the overall completion of the aim.
Using tools such as Google Analytics can help you to track progress and results.
3- Poor User Experience
The formatting of a webpage is essential for user friendly browsing. Websites must be simplistic to maintain low bounce rates and increase customer engagement and satisfaction levels. If the users can’t navigate the webpage the business will lose traffic and repeat customers.
Online competition is constantly increasing so your site has to be the best; titles must be consistent, no poor typography and sites must be mobile friendly. Blogs must be linked to the webpages to help users flow through the site and social media should always link back to the content of the posts.
2- Not writing Content for Search Engines
The webpage must be easily found by your target audience before they can become a prospect. With the use of good, unique content your webpage will rank better on search engines. This means that customers will be able to find your webpage on search engines easily, but most importantly before your competition.
1- Not Putting the Customers First
All these points have been created around the user to make sure they are satisfied. Marketing should be engaging and exciting. The webpage must allow the customer to do what they want, as simply and as stress free as possible. Incorporating all of the points above such as conducting thorough research and setting objectives to using the correct channels you will begin to see a more effective successful way of Marketing, for yourself and also your customer.
At Ascensor, our Marketing Team has a wealth of experience when dealing with multiple issues that arise so why not contact us today about how we can help you solve yours.