Did you know that there are over 30 million small businesses in the United States? Unfortunately, many of these companies are destined to fail. You see, starting a small business is much easier than keeping one running.
Furthermore, there’s a fundamental difference between keeping your business alive and operating a thriving company. If you want to be included in the group of business owners who become successful and wealthy, you need to iron out the wrinkles of your marketing strategy.
We can help. Let’s talk about common advertising mistakes you should avoid to help you save money, generate more leads, and make more sales.
Keep reading for the top six mistakes you could be making.
1. Not Caring About the User Experience Your Website Provides
Many business owners don’t fully understand the importance of their websites. One of the most common advertising mistakes is assuming a website will make sales, regardless of its design and function.
However, the design and function of a website dictate the user experience of every consumer visiting the site. If they have a negative experience, they’re less likely to convert into a paying customer.
For example, if your pages load slowly or are difficult to navigate, your brand will lack credibility in their eyes. They’ll become impatient and will leave your site can go to one of your competitors.
2. Not Striving to Rank High on Search Engines
Another inaccurate assumption is that consumers will automatically find your website once it goes live. Business owners who make this mistake fail to see significant website traffic. Organic website traffic is determined by your SEO ranking.
SEO is the coding embedded in your website through things like keywords, link-building, meta descriptions, and other content that directs search engines to your site. In other words, when a consumer uses a keyword search, what they find is based on SEO.
Don’t make the mistake of skimping on your SEO. Few search engine users make it past the first page of results. If you’re not ranking on the first page, you’re not going to get the traffic you need to thrive.
3. Not Developing a Social Media Presence
One of the most common advertising mistakes is avoiding social media. Regardless of your personal feelings about social media, these platforms are vital to your business’s success. They can help you expand your brand awareness and visibility substantially.
These apps are used by almost 75% of Americans. As such, they are the ideal place to promote your products and services, make connections, and build your brand credibility through content creation.
Furthermore, social media apps provide highly effective paid advertising options. These advertising services allow you to target an audience based on age, gender, location, interests, browsing history, and more.
Paid social media ads also track engagement. You can see how your audience is responding to your ad based on link clicks, likes, follows, shares, comments, and more. These analytics also break down the demographics of the consumers engaging with your ad, which will help you narrow down your target market.
4. Not Focusing on Your Target Market
Speaking of target markets, one of the most costly advertising mistakes is trying to sell to everyone. As a business owner, you need to face a hard truth. Your products and services aren’t for everyone.
There are many people who won’t benefit from what you have to offer. There are others who don’t care, can’t afford it, etc.
Therefore, you need to target an audience based on who is most likely to invest in your products or services. In some cases, it helps to establish a niche within the industry.
Additionally, knowing your target audience will help you create more effective marketing campaigns. For example, gen Z consumers are infamous for their limited attention span. They’ve grown up with immediate access to anything they want online – movies, social media, music, TV shows, information, etc.
As such, if your target audience falls under this demographic, you need to limit the length of advertisements. The longer your ads are, the more likely your gen Z audience is going to lose interest. Make your ads attention-grabbing, short, and to the point.
5. Not Building an Email List
Unfortunately, a lot of business owners miss out on an amazing opportunity to re-target consumers through email campaigns. One of the most common advertising mistakes is failing to build an email list to send automated emails.
Most consumers need to see a product or service multiple times before they decide to invest. Therefore, you can’t rely on a single marketing message or website visit to secure a sale. You need to stay relevant and visible through email marketing.
Use your website and social media pages to encourage people to subscribe to your email. You can create an incentive by offering valuable promotional content, discounts, exclusive access to online content, free products, etc.
Once a user has subscribed, you have a direct line of marketing. Create an automated set of emails to educate consumers about your products and services, hand out discounts, etc. Just make sure you give readers a reason to continue opening your emails.
6. Trying to DIY Every Aspect of Your Marketing Strategy
As a small business owner, you’re obviously a very capable human being. You’re driven, hard-working, and intelligent. Yet, none of these attributes necessarily qualify you to run a successful marketing campaign.
Sure, you can eventually learn how to market your company effectively, but it doesn’t help you thrive right now. In some cases, despite your talents, you may lack the direction, artistic creativity, or vision to develop a successful marketing campaign.
Don’t entrench yourself in the idea that you must do everything on your own. Instead, hire a creative director who can help you streamline your marketing, come up with ideas for advertisements, and create a campaign that will draw positive attention to your brand.
Want to Avoid the Common Advertising Mistakes Listed Above?
There are a lot of things you can do wrong when promoting your business. Mitigate your losses and failures by avoiding the common advertising mistakes listed in this article.
And if you want more marketing assistance, we have more to offer. Stick around and browse through the rest of our content to find more business tips, marketing advice, and other valuable insight.
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