Are You Making These 5 Marketing Mistakes?

Your success, especially as a small business, is directly linked with your marketing strategy. The idea of marketing your business can seem overwhelming and expensive, but there are many basic, cheap and free things you can do to get yourself out there! If you do invest time and money into marketing, it can help you in the long-run.

When working on your marketing plan, be sure you aren’t making any of these major mistakes:

1. Choosing not to do any marketing. You may be doing great work, but how will anyone know if you don’t show and tell? Marketing is more than just advertising. It helps you better connect with your key audience and find trends in your industry. Your marketing can be simple, like utilizing free social media channels. Many social media platforms even let you advertise for a cheap price.
2. Not setting goals. How can you properly measure your success without any set goals? Before creating blog posts or running ads, think about what you want your objectives to be. Do you want to drive more traffic to your website, or expand your reach on social media? In other words, don’t do things just to do them. Have a plan.
3. Not looking at your competitors. What are other businesses in your industry doing differently? Check out how they are reaching their customers and engaging with them. Not only will you get ideas on how to improve, but you can understand what does and does not work in your industry.
4. Not marketing to the right people. It’s essential to have a comprehensive understanding of your audience. Trying to market to anyone and everyone may end up with more failures than successes. Consumers today expect you to know their individual wants and needs. Research how to appeal to different generations so that you can tailor your messaging to your different customers.
5. Not tracking and measuring your results. In order to learn from your mistakes (and successes), you have to track what you’re doing. Many social media platforms have easy ways to view your post engagement. It’s also important to look at your website analytics to see which pages are attracting attention. HubSpot and Hootsuite are two great resources for businesses looking to improve their marketing!

Finally, remember that you do not have to be a marketing expert. There are many free resources and tools to help you better market your business. Whether you are in charge of marketing yourself or use an outside agency, learning more about marketing trends can only help your business grow!

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This post was written by your BBB Serving Central Ohio's Content & Communications Coordinator, Jordan Abbruzzese.