8 Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make
According to a recent survey, about half of all American small businesses lack a solid marketing plan. Not having a plan is a small business's biggest marketing mistake.
If you're not marketing your business enough now, it could eventually lead to its demise. You will struggle to spread the word about your company without using small business marketing to your advantage.
There are also some other marketing mistakes that you might be making as a small business owner that can come back to bite you. Learn about eight of them below.
1. Failing to Create a Website for Your Small Business
These days, there is no excuse for small businesses not to have websites. Websites are no longer an exception; they're the expectation.
Yet, one recent report revealed that about 27% of small businesses still operate without websites. These small businesses are likely hurting their bottom lines in a big way by failing to create websites.
If your small business is still operating without a website, you should do something to change that immediately. With our company, you can get a website for your company up and running in no time at all.
Even if you don't know the first thing about web design, our experts will help you start your website immediately. Your website will quickly become one of your best marketing tools.
2. Ignoring the Importance of SEO When It Comes to Your Company's Website
It isn't enough to set up a website for your small business in this day and age. Once you create a website, you also need to make sure that you understand how important search engine optimization, or SEO, is.
SEO is a process that involves incorporating certain things into your website to make it easier for others to find it. By adding the right keywords, links, etc., to your site, you can help it to rank much higher on search engine results pages and ensure that plenty of people visit your site each month.
If SEO isn't a big part of your small business marketing strategy, you'll make one of the worst marketing mistakes. You'll miss out on an opportunity to bring in more traffic regularly.
3. Forgetting to Establish a Social Media Presence for Your Small Business
While small businesses must set up websites and use them for marketing purposes, it's just as vital for them to establish a social media presence. Your company should have accounts on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
Social media has provided small businesses with a brand-new way to connect with customers. It's also made it possible for them to create unique voices for their brands that separate them from the pack.
4. Misidentifying the Target Audience for Your Small Business
Who is the target audience for your small business? You can have the best small business website in the world and a fabulous social media presence, but if you don't know your target audience, all your marketing efforts might miss the mark.
Before employing any marketing techniques for your small business, you should know your target audience. It'll enable you to cater your content to them to increase their chances of patronizing your small business.
5. Letting Negative Online Reviews for Your Small Business Linger
Whether you like it or not, people patronizing your small business will typically leave reviews for your company. They'll do it through several review sites, and their thoughts will impact your reputation.
Suppose you can rack up almost nothing but positive reviews. You won't have to worry about doing anything other than thanking those who have taken the time to leave reviews for your small business in the first place.
But if you find that you've received a lot of negative reviews online, you should do something about it. You will either want to look into having these reviews removed if you don't feel they're legit or respond to these reviews to show that your company cares about input from your customers.
Whatever you do, you don't want negative reviews to stick around for too long and make it seem your company doesn't care about them.
6. Spending Too Much Money or Not Enough Money on Small Business Marketing
To carry out your small business marketing plan, you must be prepared to spend some money on it. You should come up with a marketing budget and use it accordingly.
Just be sure you're not spending too much or not enough money on your small business marketing efforts. As a general rule of thumb, you will want to devote around 7% of your gross revenue to marketing to make the most of it.
7. Relying on Outdated Small Business Marketing Strategies
Are you using some marketing strategies you learned about when you attended college in the early 2000s to run a small business in 2022? That alone will be one of your biggest small business marketing mistakes if you are.
The marketing world has changed quite a bit over the last few years, let alone the last 20 years. So it would be best if you tried to avoid using any outdated small business marketing strategies. You'll be asking for trouble if you take this approach to marketing.
8. Marketing Your Business Without Analyzing the Results
Marketing your business is very important, but it isn't done much good if you're not getting any positive results. It's why you should get into the habit of constantly analyzing the results of your marketing efforts.
If some aspect of your small business marketing plan isn't working, you must adjust it accordingly. Otherwise, it could lead to you spending a lot of time and money on a marketing strategy that isn't doing you much.
Try Not to Make Any of These Crucial Small Business Marketing Mistakes
Effectively marketing your small business isn't always going to be easy. You'll need to work hard to avoid making any marketing mistakes listed here.
We can help you steer clear of at least some of them by providing you with affordable website design services and digital marketing solutions. We'll set you up with the website you need to get your small business marketing plan off the ground.
Check out some examples of our work, and contact us today to learn more about getting a website for your small business.
If you're not marketing your business enough now, it could eventually lead to its demise. You will struggle to spread the word about your company without using small business marketing to your advantage.
There are also some other marketing mistakes that you might be making as a small business owner that can come back to bite you. Learn about eight of them below.
1. Failing to Create a Website for Your Small Business
These days, there is no excuse for small businesses not to have websites. Websites are no longer an exception; they're the expectation.
Yet, one recent report revealed that about 27% of small businesses still operate without websites. These small businesses are likely hurting their bottom lines in a big way by failing to create websites.
If your small business is still operating without a website, you should do something to change that immediately. With our company, you can get a website for your company up and running in no time at all.
Even if you don't know the first thing about web design, our experts will help you start your website immediately. Your website will quickly become one of your best marketing tools.
2. Ignoring the Importance of SEO When It Comes to Your Company's Website
It isn't enough to set up a website for your small business in this day and age. Once you create a website, you also need to make sure that you understand how important search engine optimization, or SEO, is.
SEO is a process that involves incorporating certain things into your website to make it easier for others to find it. By adding the right keywords, links, etc., to your site, you can help it to rank much higher on search engine results pages and ensure that plenty of people visit your site each month.
If SEO isn't a big part of your small business marketing strategy, you'll make one of the worst marketing mistakes. You'll miss out on an opportunity to bring in more traffic regularly.
3. Forgetting to Establish a Social Media Presence for Your Small Business
While small businesses must set up websites and use them for marketing purposes, it's just as vital for them to establish a social media presence. Your company should have accounts on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
Social media has provided small businesses with a brand-new way to connect with customers. It's also made it possible for them to create unique voices for their brands that separate them from the pack.
4. Misidentifying the Target Audience for Your Small Business
Who is the target audience for your small business? You can have the best small business website in the world and a fabulous social media presence, but if you don't know your target audience, all your marketing efforts might miss the mark.
Before employing any marketing techniques for your small business, you should know your target audience. It'll enable you to cater your content to them to increase their chances of patronizing your small business.
5. Letting Negative Online Reviews for Your Small Business Linger
Whether you like it or not, people patronizing your small business will typically leave reviews for your company. They'll do it through several review sites, and their thoughts will impact your reputation.
Suppose you can rack up almost nothing but positive reviews. You won't have to worry about doing anything other than thanking those who have taken the time to leave reviews for your small business in the first place.
But if you find that you've received a lot of negative reviews online, you should do something about it. You will either want to look into having these reviews removed if you don't feel they're legit or respond to these reviews to show that your company cares about input from your customers.
Whatever you do, you don't want negative reviews to stick around for too long and make it seem your company doesn't care about them.
6. Spending Too Much Money or Not Enough Money on Small Business Marketing
To carry out your small business marketing plan, you must be prepared to spend some money on it. You should come up with a marketing budget and use it accordingly.
Just be sure you're not spending too much or not enough money on your small business marketing efforts. As a general rule of thumb, you will want to devote around 7% of your gross revenue to marketing to make the most of it.
7. Relying on Outdated Small Business Marketing Strategies
Are you using some marketing strategies you learned about when you attended college in the early 2000s to run a small business in 2022? That alone will be one of your biggest small business marketing mistakes if you are.
The marketing world has changed quite a bit over the last few years, let alone the last 20 years. So it would be best if you tried to avoid using any outdated small business marketing strategies. You'll be asking for trouble if you take this approach to marketing.
8. Marketing Your Business Without Analyzing the Results
Marketing your business is very important, but it isn't done much good if you're not getting any positive results. It's why you should get into the habit of constantly analyzing the results of your marketing efforts.
If some aspect of your small business marketing plan isn't working, you must adjust it accordingly. Otherwise, it could lead to you spending a lot of time and money on a marketing strategy that isn't doing you much.
Try Not to Make Any of These Crucial Small Business Marketing Mistakes
Effectively marketing your small business isn't always going to be easy. You'll need to work hard to avoid making any marketing mistakes listed here.
We can help you steer clear of at least some of them by providing you with affordable website design services and digital marketing solutions. We'll set you up with the website you need to get your small business marketing plan off the ground.
Check out some examples of our work, and contact us today to learn more about getting a website for your small business.