There is nothing worse than seeing money lost to pointless marketing. And many small business owners, are inadvertently wasting much of their budget on misused or ineffectual tactics and tools.
Marketing budgets for small businesses are already too tight, and you simply do not have the time or money for things that do not work.
To help you reduce waste and boost success in 2016, I have put together a list of the 8 most familiar ways small businesses lose money with bad marketing and what you can do to change that into gains.
1) Building a following using social media.
Social media is excellent, but far too many small businesses jump in with no better tactic than to “build a following.”
A few years ago you could have gotten away with that when Facebook reach was high, but now many small businesses are recognising they have spent a lot of time and effort in something they now have to pay to use. Because of Facebook’s constantly changing algorithm, only a small number of your followers will ever see your content in their News Feeds, and small business owners are having to buy Facebook ads to get their posts seen.
How can this be fixed?
The cost of the ad are not too expensive right now, but more social media platforms are moving to pay-for-placement structure, which means you can expect to spend more money on ads if you want your content to be seen. One recommendation is to use your current social media investments to build your email list. Begin gathering your followers’ email addresses so you can connect with them directly. Use what social media assets you have to build your email list.
2) Giving up when the going gets tough.
The Small Business Administration says 30% of all start-up small businesses fail within two years, and that number reaches 50% within five years. A lot of small businesses start strong, but then, within months, they have failed
The problem? Unrealistic expectations. They want results within a few months. Really, they needed results within a few months. When that did not happen, they jumped ship.
The solution? Expect a 2 year period for the business to grow. If that is not possible, then use careful advertising to get the marketing process warmed up then balance that with as much content as you can afford to create and promote.
3) Who is your target audience.
If you do not understand who your target audience is, you might as well give your money to charity.
Understand the behaviours of your audience. Do this before you attempt the marketing strategy before you buy ads and before you create content. Think about what to say to them, how to say it, and where to say it.
The point of your marketing efforts is to reach your potential customers. You have to KNOW who they are and where they are.
4) What attracted the big fish?
Whatever you call your megastar-customers, you need to know which marketing strategy and content are getting in your most valuable clients. The top 20% of your clients probably account for at least half your revenue.
5) The big one-time ad campaign.
There are plenty of clever marketing strategies to try. Some of them work well, but most of them do not – particularly if you have only got one chance to make them work.
Small businesses that have a limited marketing budget should not jump into five-figure marketing campaigns that are untested for them.
The solution? Test it first with a couple of hundred euro or less. If you can not get this new strategy to work with that, it is not likely to work by throwing more money at it, either.
6) Are you a marketing pathfinder? Are you tracking!!.
You more than likely have Google Analytics set up, but are you using it? And what are you learning from it?
A lot of small businesses do not really know how the tool works or how to analyse the data. Business owners need to take some time to learn via Google’s free online Analytics Academy.
There is also a lot of misunderstanding around Google’s pay-per-click ad platform, AdWords. AdWords is a very effective marketing tool. In spite of this, many small businesses simply buy ad space without looking how those ads are performing, and that can lead to wasting a lot of money.
This can be easily sorted. Start by setting up conversion tracking for your ad campaigns. The AdWords system lets you see how successfully your ads lead to customer action such as phone calls, purchases, downloads and more. If you are not already tracking conversions from your Google AdWords clicks, YOU SHOULD BE.
7) Spreading yourself to thin.
As small businesses, we have got reduced resources. We do not have a marketing department. We might have a couple of people at most.
You can not do it all. You can not be on every social channel, publish content all over the place, or try every shiny marketing object that comes along. Focus on knowing your audience and using the social media platforms, websites and marketing tools THEY like.
8) Why change your marketing strategy.
Marketing changes even faster these days. While it has been suggested to focus on what is working, It is also recommended that the small business owner tries a couple new things every once in a while. Given the way marketing is advancing, we have got to evolve, too.
Is your business losing money in any of these areas? If so, it may be time to re-evaluate your marketing plans for the next year and make a few changes.
