Avoid these marketing pitfalls
Small businesses need a marketing strategy just like big companies. This is especially true if you are seeking to expand your customer base, increase revenue or grow your brand awareness. Marketing needs direction though as you need to be sure that it is positive and not actually sabotaging your business interests. Here are a few tips to help you avoid the pitfalls of negative marketing.
In the constant search for new business, it’s too easy sometimes to forget your current customer base. Putting all of your resources and efforts into advertising might mean that you are focusing so much about attracting new custom that you’re neglecting existing clients. Marketing can also be just as effectively aimed at existing customers as new ones and there are many ways to maintain communication with that base after the initial sale. Email marketing is a cheap and effective way to achieve this if your emails are full of useful and relevant information. This way you are more likely to achieve good success rates for repeat custom.
When marketing your business, while it’s good to present your best assets, don’t blow your own trumpet too much. Many businesses assume that their customers share their values but this isn’t always the case. Don’t be tempted to talk about yourself too much as your customers may not care how many awards you’ve won or what anniversary you’re celebrating. The most effective marketing approach is to concentrate on providing a solution to a problem that your customer has. Don’t sell your product or service but sell them the way in which you are going to help them solve a problem.
To understand fully what these problems might be, it can be helpful to have a survey. Simple surveys can be created online and will provide you with some invaluable feedback on how you can provide solutions for your customers. This will help you moving forward with your marketing strategy, enabling you to focus less on yourself and more on your customers. For effective marketing advice, contact a Brand and Strategy Innovation Agency. For more information, visit www.lightbulbinnovation.com/.
Another pitfall that can negatively affect your business is a lack of call to action on your company’s website. When a customer visits your website you need to give them more than just information. If you want them to sign up for a newsletter or a promotion, you need to give them something to do with the information you’ve provided them. This is where a call to action button is needed to direct them to whatever you want to direct them to. You need to take the initiative here as if it’s not clear then you will likely lose that visitor.
Social media is a cheap and easy way of marketing but beware of not using it correctly or effectively. Sending the occasional tweet won’t suffice so what you’ll need is a solid social media marketing strategy. Using your market research, find out where your customers are online and target those areas. Don’t be tempted to spam as you’ll quickly fall out of favour.
