Eight Marketing Mistakes Small Business Owners Make

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Are you disappointed with the results of your small business marketing efforts? Or do you see results, but they are not quite what you hoped for?

There are a number of pitfalls which can lead to this, any of which can either diminish or destroy the return on your marketing spend or efforts.

Here are eight pitfalls that small business owners commonly fall into, holding back the growth and prosperity of their companies – and how to fix them:

8 common small business marketing mistakes.

1. Your target market is “everyone”.

There is an old expression that says: “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time”.

Yes, you may have a product with a wide appeal – but different segments of your market buy your product for different reasons.

For instance, let’s say you sell high quality jackets which appear thin, but are in fact very warm, even in bad weather.

You may have younger people buying it because it becomes a fashion accessory.

You may have outdoor workers who buy it because it allows them freedom of movement.

You may have people who travel frequently who appreciate the fact that it takes up so little space.

And you may have discerning buyers who simply appreciate the quality.

Each of these groups have their own expectations. A marketing message aimed at outdoor workers probably won’t connect with youngsters, or with frequent travelers.

If you put out a generic marketing message aimed at “everyone”, chances are that many people who should have bought your product will simply not see the benefit – for them – in your message.

Think of all of the different reasons why someone may want to acquire your product or service, or why they want to do business with your store. Each of those reasons could represent a different market segment, each of which has its own expectations.

Instead of putting out one generic ad for everyone, start with the market segment which has the best potential return. It might not be the largest segment, but it is the segment with the best balance between numbers and potential competition.

2. Your branding is inconsistent.

The whole idea behind branding is that any brand materials have to be regocnizable as YOURS.

Does your logo look the same everywhere you use it? Yes, the shape may differ depending on the application, but can it be recognized as yours in an instant, even by someone who saw a different version previously?

If not, a potential buyer may be looking at your logo, and not realize it is the same one they saw on your shop six months ago.

To prevent this from happening, create a simple brand guide – include all the different variations of your logo, brand colors, the fonts that are to be used on all marketing materials and your website, as well as the tone of voice for messaging in your marketing.

You may sell to different segments who have different reasons for buying your products, but you can still have “a brand voice”.

Provide a copy of the brand guide or brand template to anyone who has to create any marketing material – whether it be a newspaper ad or online graphics, a video or a blog post.

3. Ignoring your online presence.

Depending on your type of business and your personal experience, you may still believe in word-of-mouth marketing, or simply distributing flyers or business cards.

Yes, if you are selling hot dogs on the corner of a busy street you may be able to get away with it. For everything else…

Your website – even if it is very basic – is not only a way to be found, but it also answers potential questions, and give people an idea of what your business looks like.

Similarly, having social profiles on platforms where your prospects hang out will not only make you find-able on those platforms, but it will provide people with the means of sharing your information with potential customers when they do.

Finally, be sure to activate Google Business Profile, and verify your physical address. These results appear even before the regular search results during localized searches, and they represent your first opportunity to be seen.

4. Not keeping track of your results.

Many small business owners just keep throwing money at marketing and hope it works.

But do you have any idea WHAT works, and how well each method or campaign works?

Do you know how many people come to your website, and where they come from? Do they come from Google searches, social media or specific ad campaigns you are running?

If you are running more than one ad campaign at a time, do you know which one is working or not working?

If you run email marketing campaigns, whether it be to your own list or to someone else’s list, do you know what the open rates and click-through rates are?

If not, how will you know if your headlines or call-to-action is working as expected?

On social media, do you look at your page- or profile insights? If not, how do you know if any post was posted at the right time for your audience, or even when your target audience is most active?

If you don’t track your key performance metrics, it’s like driving a car with no idea as to how much fuel it has left, or whether the indicators and brake lights work.

It might get you to the corner store, but you wouldn’t want to go into the city driving that car.

Being aware of what works, and how well it works, not only allows to fix or discard useless campaigns or advertising channels, but it also allows you to systematically improve on the ones that work.

Over time the return on your marketing spend gets better and better – instead of being hit-and-miss every time you spend money.

5. Not doing your market research.

Many small business owners feel they don’t need to do market research, purely because they used to work in the field they are now going into business in. But it’s not that simple…

If you used to work in one small city and then start your business in another, you may find substantial differences in the new market you want to serve.

There may be differences in expectations and sensitivity to pricing, and there may be other players who could already dominate a chunk of the local market.

If you don’t do your market research, you won’t know how to differentiate yourself while addressing specific buyer expectations.

Also keep in mind that market research is not a once-off thing. It is something you need to do periodically, because expectations shift over time, and if your competition is also evolving, you need to know what to adapt to in order to keep or grow your market share.

You can do some quick research by simply doing short customer surveys, looking at Google trends to see what people are searching for, and looking at common points raised in negative reviews of your competitors.

6. Trying to just “sell” on social media.

People enjoy buying – but most people dislike being sold to. When they buy, they want to feel it is “their idea”. As a result, too much “buy now” messaging on social media could hurt your sales.

Not to mention that very few people will actually share your ads, unless it is indeed a good deal.

Of course, it depends on what you are selling, how much it costs, and if there is an expiry date on the goods you sell.

As a rule of thumb, post 80% informational content, and 10% promotional content. Offer tips and customer education, and even insights.

Where available, test the use of customer reviews of specific products or services in your promotional material. It seems less pushy, purely because it shows someone else who actually purchased the product or service.

7. Not paying attention to your customers.

There are two sides to this:

a. You want to know what people’s expectations are before they buy, and whether they are happy with their purchase afterwards.

b. You want to look after your repeat customers by using loyalty programs, sending thank-you emails or even birthday messages, and depending on your business model, you may even want to look at exclusive discounts or package deals for your repeat customers or clients.

It is much cheaper – and easier – to keep an existing customer coming back than to acquire a new one.

8. Giving up too soon.

So, so many small business owners dive into social media marketing, and when they don’t see results in a month, they just walk away from it, or they simply stop making it a priority – and only post when they feel like it.

Social media marketing is like growing a tree. At the start it seems like it will never bear fruit, but once it does, it keeps on giving.

But if you don’t nurse the tree when it is still small, it will never grow. You need to be consistent in your efforts. You don’t need to post every day – but be sure to always post on the same day or days of the week. Consistency signals dependability, which builds trust.

Also, you need time to test different types of content and topics, as well as posting times, to see which approach actually resonates with your audience.

The same goes for paid marketing. Yes, you can reduce the learning curve by doing proper market research first, but in order to get the best return on your ad spend, you will need time to test and tweak.

Professional ad buyers advise new clients to commit to three months to properly test and tweak their advertising campaigns for maximum efficiency.

So, regardless of whether you do paid ads or content marketing or both, have realistic expectations, and put in the work and time to make it work as well as it can.

Don’t measure progress over days – measure it over months, while being consistent.

In conclusion:

Any of the above mistakes can hurt your marketing and the revenue it generates. Fixing them can save you not only money, but also plenty of time and stress.

If you are not happy with the results of your marketing, maybe it is time to do a quick audit, and see what you can do to improve it.

Even if you are not a marketing professional, simply avoiding these 8 mistakes can take your marketing to a whole new level.