8 COMMON MARKETING MISTAKES
8 COMMON MARKETING MISTAKES
8 MOST COMMON MARKETING MISTAKES OF SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
Good marketing takes practice and trial and error. To help you speed up your practice, we have the top 8 most common marketing mistakes of new business owners, in a bid to help you get on the right track quicker.
- Inconsistent branding
Your brand should be consistent across all marketing including logos, fonts and colour palettes. Your brand is how your customers recognise you so your image must be consistent.
- Inconsistent messaging
When you commence your business, write down the key messages and tone that you want our business to convey – are you fun and light-hearted or professional and corporate? Just as above, your messages are part of your overall brand so keep it consistent.
- Poor online presence
You need to be online so your customers can find you. Whether it be your website, social media or local directories, be sure to have an online presence or you risk not being found.
- Criticising your competition
No matter what the situation or where you sit in the marketplace, putting down your competition is never a good thing. Period. Always be sure to be seen as a good businessperson, not one that aims to succeed by putting others down.
- Over-promising and under-delivering
Try to reverse this one – under-promise and over-deliver to give your customers a pleasant surprise instead of a bad taste in their mouths left by poor service.
- Below par customer service
Which leads us to point #8 – it may not be one that leaps to mind but customer service is a huge part of your marketing. Having good branding and all the above points will help your customers find you, but good customer service is what will make them stay. Same goes for the reverse, deliver poor customer service and they will desert you for someone better just as quickly.
- Poor follow-up
New customers are wonderful, but return customers are your bread and butter. They are the loyal customer who will continue to give you their patronage and refer you to their family and friends. Take the time to follow up with your customers in a bid to develop long-term loyalty.
- Lack of engagement with customers
If you are active on social media, responding and engaging with your customers is crucial. Your customers want to be heard and made to fee their opinion and voices are valid to you and your business. Answer those emails and phone calls, respond to facebook messages and posts and really communicate with your clients.
Be prepared to make mistakes and to try new ideas where some may work and some may not. It’s all a learning curve until you find what is right for your business.
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