introduction
Most small businesses do not fail at marketing because they are lazy. They fail because they work at the wrong tasks.
This repeats over and over – a business owner allocates time and money to marketing, try a few channels, pay for SEO services and then it seems that nothing has worked. At this point, they conclude something like “digital marketing doesn’t work for us.”
But this is rarely the case. Digital marketing rewards effort – it’s all about the right places and the right tactics. There are several easy mistakes that will destroy even the most well-meaning of marketing efforts, eating up both time and money.
As a digital marketing agency, we speak to many business owners about their marketing challenges and hear the same five mistakes over and over. Luckily, they are all easy to fix. In this post, we’ll look at each of these mistakes and tell you how to avoid them.
5 Common Digital Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake #1: Settling Without Defining Goals
Sounds surprising but the most common mistake businesses make is to begin their marketing without having thought through exactly what they want to accomplish.
Ask most business owners what they want their marketing to achieve and they will give you an answer along the lines of “getting more customers” or “being more visible.” These are great aspirations but bad goals. As long as a goal is not specific and do not have a defined result, it is impossible to know if you have achieved it or not.
A good goal would look more like “getting 30 enquiry calls per month from the Delhi region for our service” or “selling 100 units of X in the next 6 months.” You can then go on to develop targets for your campaigns and select the marketing channels and tactics that will help you achieve them.
Without specific goals, businesses end up chasing irrelevant metrics that may feel nice but do little to directly contribute to revenue.
How to fix this marketing mistake:
Set your own goal for the next 90 days before launching your marketing campaigns. The goal should be specific (have a defined result) and ideally have a number attached to it. From there, you can select the marketing channels and tactics that contribute to it.
Mistake #2: Talking to Everyone
“Everyone” is not a good audience to target. In fact, it is a surefire recipe for writing broad, ineffective messaging that appeals to no one.
As you develop your marketing strategy, you need to become much more specific about who you are talking to. Your ideal customer probably has certain characteristics – an age range, a location, and specific issues they want to solve. They may use particular words to describe what they are looking for and have certain expectations about what it should cost.
A bakery that targets its marketing to “people who want cake” will have trouble standing out from its competitors. A bakery that targets “busy parents in South Delhi who want a birthday cake delivered to their home the same day,” however, has a much more defined audience to target.
How to fix this marketing mistake:
Think about your ideal customer and write a brief paragraph of them. If you can, speak to several real customers and ask them why they chose you. Use their exact words in your marketing copy, slogans and other materials as they are likely to appeal to others like them.
Mistake #3: Sending Prospects to a Bad Website
Of all the mistakes on this list, this is the most expensive and the easiest to fix.
Say you have compelling ads that attract many visitors to your website – only to have them leave almost immediately. What could be the reason for this? It is always easy to blame the ad, but you need to consider whether your website is welcoming enough to capture the visitor’s attention and get them to take action.
Some common problems in this area are: slow page loading on mobile devices, unclear value proposition, unappealing design, and poor call-to-action buttons. Another reason for high bounce rates is that the landing page does not match the ad copy. If your ad says “buy now” but the website has an enquiry form or no contact details at all, you can expect most visitors to leave.
Unfortunately, many businesses continue to waste money on ads without realizing that the real problem is their website. If you have a website that only manages to convince 1 out of 100 visitors to take action (buy, enquire or contact you) while a simple optimization could make that 3 out of 100, you are wasting two-thirds of your ad budget.
How to fix this marketing mistake:
Look at your website on your mobile phone and time how long it takes to load. Ask yourself – would I be able to understand what this website is about within five seconds of landing on it? If not – you need to optimize the page. You should ideally have a short headline, an easy-to-find call-to-action button and a few trust factors such as testimonials or logos. Avoid using Flash or other technologies that old websites used to use. Remember that most people will view your website on their phones, so you need to optimize the mobile view first.
Mistake #4: Failing to Track Everything
If something cannot be measured, it should not be done – or at least that is what many marketers will tell you. Unfortunately, many businesses fail to track the performance of their digital marketing campaigns properly. Some of them have no idea how much they spend on marketing or what they get in return for their investment. Others cannot say with any degree of certainty which channels and tactics are the most effective or what changes to their campaigns have made a difference in performance.
As a result, these companies find themselves making marketing decisions based on emotions rather than facts. They believe that the channels and tactics that have brought them the most traffic are the best ones when, in reality, those channels may have a poor conversion rate. The same goes for digital advertising – you may think that one ad campaign is performing well based on your gut feeling while another one with a mediocre click-through rate hides a phenomenal conversion rate.
To fix this issue, you need to have a robust tracking system that will allow you to see which parts of your marketing mix are the most effective. At a minimum, you need to have Google Analytics set up so that you can see where your website visitors are coming from and what they do on your site. You should also be able to track your conversions (calls, enquiries, sales) so that you understand which channels and tactics bring you the most revenue.
How to fix this marketing mistake:
Set up your tracking system so that you can measure the performance of your marketing campaigns accurately. You want to have a dashboard that gives you an overview of the most critical metrics and update it at least once per month. You do not need to use fancy software for this – a simple Excel spreadsheet will suffice as long as it has the necessary information.
Mistake #5: Giving Up Too Soon or Holding On Too Long
This mistake is self-explanatory, really. Some marketers try to optimize their campaigns before they have given them enough time and effort to deliver results. Others, on the other hand, continue to pour money into non-converting campaigns simply because they do not want to admit that they made a mistake.
Both of these approaches are wrong. You need to give your marketing campaigns enough time to deliver results before you decide whether they are worth continuing. At the same time, you should not be afraid to acknowledge when a tactic has failed and move on to the next one.
How to fix this marketing mistake:
Set a benchmark for performance for each of your marketing campaigns and an end date by which you will reassess their performance. For example, you might decide that if your ad campaign fails to deliver a lead worth more than ₹500, you will optimize the offer or abandon the campaign altogether.
A Checklist to Help You Avoid Costly Digital Marketing Errors
Now that we have gone over the most common digital marketing mistakes, let’s summarize everything into a simple checklist. If you are unsure about any of the points below, spend some time researching them or consult with a marketing expert.
Do you have a clearly defined goal for your marketing efforts?
Do you have a definition of your ideal customer?
Is your website optimized for speed and easy viewing on mobile devices?
Are you tracking the right metrics to show you what works and what does not?
Have you set a benchmark for each of your marketing campaigns?
Five easy questions to ask yourself to spot digital marketing issues. If you are unsure about any of them, spend some time educating yourself on the subject before moving forward. Fixing these issues will save you significant time and money in the long run.
Why This Mistake Occurs So Often
It is worth noting that we do not consider any of these digital marketing mistakes to be a sign of incompetence. Marketing is one of those areas where everyone is a novice. There are so many things to learn, so many channels and tactics to choose from, and so much information to process that it is easy to miss a few things.
People often try to follow the advice of marketing gurus or copy what other companies are doing without stopping to think if those approaches will work for them. That is why it is so important to define your marketing goals, know your audience, understand the importance of a good website and utilize marketing analytics. Once you have done that, most of the “dangerous” mistakes become much more difficult to make.
Final Thoughts
With these five digital marketing mistakes identified, let’s now discuss how you can get started on the right path.
First things first – fix the most obvious issues in your marketing. Set a marketing goal for the next 90 days and research your market to find out who your ideal customer is. Next, evaluate your website and see whether it is optimized for speed, has a strong call-to-action and overall looks appealing. You should also set up your marketing tracking so that you can easily see what works and what does not. Small wins in these areas will add up and significantly improve your marketing performance.
If you would rather not do it alone, the team at ThikListing is ready to help you get started. We will look at your marketing performance, analyze the challenges you are facing and develop a plan that will maximize your results while staying within your budget. You can contact ThikListing to schedule a free consultation and begin your journey to marketing success.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the most common digital marketing mistake small businesses make?
Not setting specific goals is the most common marketing mistake small businesses make. Having a goal is important because it will inform the choice of marketing channels and tactics as well as help you measure your success.
2. How do I know if my digital marketing is working?
Ideally, you should be able to directly link your marketing activities to the results – increased sales, more calls from prospects, etc. You need to have goals that define what success looks like and some sort of measurement system in place to track whether you are achieving those goals.
3. How long should I wait before judging a marketing campaign?
It depends on what kind of marketing you are doing. For most digital marketing activities, two months is a good benchmark. SEO, on the other hand, has a timeline that may be as long as six months. Set a specific date by which you will review your marketing performance.
4. Why are my ads getting clicked but not resulting in any sales?
If your ads are getting clicked but not delivering any value, your marketing budget is being wasted. In most cases, the issue is with your landing page – it is either poorly optimized or does not match your ad copy.
5. Do I need a large budget to avoid these marketing mistakes?
In most cases, you do not need a large budget to make marketing mistakes. Many of the issues outlined in this article require little to no investment to fix.
6. Should I focus on one marketing platform or try to use everything?
It is better to focus on one or two marketing platforms rather than try to do everything at once. Having said that, you should base your decision on your audience and their preferences first.
7. Is it a mistake to do digital marketing without a website?
It is not necessarily a mistake, but it is a risky proposition. Social media can be a good marketing channel, but you still need a website to maximize your marketing potential.
8. How often should I review my marketing results?
As a rule of thumb, you should review your marketing performance at least once a month. Ideally, you want to have a dashboard that will allow you to see how your marketing is performing in real-time.
9. Can I fix these mistakes on my own?
You can fix most of these issues on your own, provided you have the right knowledge. It is a good idea to consult with a marketing professional before making any major changes to your marketing activities.
10. How can ThikListing help me avoid these mistakes?
We assist you in identifying the issues with your marketing and developing solutions that are right for your business. You can contact ThikListing to schedule a free strategy session.