Most Common Marketing Mistakes

Marketing is only as effective as its execution there are many common marketing mistakes made in the process. Which you can achieve by properly researching and implementing marketing strategies, that enhance lead generation and customer acquisition.  

Effective marketing is about analysing all elements of your business to ensure that the marketing strategies you are using align with your business goals and company ethos. Only when you do this will you discover the marketing mistakes, the areas of your marketing that need tweaking or in some cases completely scrapping.  

We have put together a list of the most common marketing mistakes found within all businesses for you to cross-reference.

So, what are these most common marketing mistakes? 

1. Scattergun approach – Many business owners will do a bit of marketing one week, then leave it for three weeks, then think oh I’ve not done anything for a while and then do a bit more marketing. This scattergun approach is going to give a detrimental impact to your business. By doing sporadic marketing activities you are not committed and are not allowing the time needed to successfully action marketing plans. 
2. Market to everyone – By marketing to everyone you have no clear understanding of your target audience and so spend money on unsuitable marketing activities. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand your target audience and who your potential customers are. 
3. Relying on one channel – Putting your eggs in one basket and only marketing through one channel is not going to increase you reach. It’s important to have a marketing campaign with several marketing channels delivering the same consistent message. 
4. Panic buy – When business is slow, so you end you overspending on budget 
5. Don’t invest the time – You need to invest in the time to review and map out your marketing strategy along with scheduling time to do specific marketing activities. 
6. Not consistent – Consistency is key in marketing yet too many businesses fail to action this. Therefore, it’s important to have a plan so you can be consistent in your messaging and consistent in when you are scheduling your marketing. 
7. Don’t measure – You could be wasting money by not measuring your marketing. By using technology, you can track every aspect of your campaigns. 
8. No marketing strategy – So often businesses create what they think is a good marketing idea on a post it or give marketing tasks to admin who aren’t trained. 
9. Mixed messages – Not knowing why people should buy from you. Businesses need to lay out a clear reason, a solution to a pain point and specify their USPs. 
10. Too busy doing business – When there is work to do for your clients your own marketing can fall to the side – it is important to remember future clients. 
11. No CRM system – With no CRM system how do you know when to follow up or to check in? Make less work for yourself by creating automated reminders. 
12. Procrastinating – presents fear, perfectionism, difficulty starting, lacking motivation and presents distractions 
13. Waiting for business – Waiting for business to come to you will not work. You need to market your business and attract the right customers. 
14. Poor research – before launching a marketing campaign you must first understand your customers. It is important to carve out some time in your schedule to focus on research.  
15. Unwilling to adapt – Too often businesses avoid adaption through fear of the unknown when this halters your business from evolving and succeeding on a greater scale. 
16. Ignoring customer complaints – Just as word of mouth can encourage others to use your business, it can just as easy tarnish your name based on one customer’s bad experience. It is best to deal with bad customer experiences and rectify where possible. 
17. Not having a USP – You need to have a USP, it is important to tell people why they should choose your business. 
18. Failing to communicate – Communication is the most crucial element of marketing and communication continuity with customers is extremely important. Don’t let them buy one thing and forget about them, chase them with new products, email them promotions. 

For more on common marketing mistakes have a read of Forbes article ‘15 common Marketing Mistakes Entrepreneur Should Avoid’ 

Why should you invest in your marketing? 

It is time to eliminate those pesky common marketing mistakes and take control of your business. We have put together a list of reasons why investing in your marketing will benefit your business. 

• Increase your knowledge about your business 
• Help your audience to understand why they should buy from you 
• Laying strong foundations 
• Lead generation 
• Increases sales  
• Strong USP  
• Increase customer interaction  
• Position you above the competition 
• Forefront of the target audience’s minds 

• Smart marketing can save you money  

• Fun and effective marketing can inspire your team 

Time to take control of those common marketing mistakes! 

For more information on how to market your business why not have a read of one of our earlier blogs – Do You Know How to Market Your Small Business 

Remember if you are struggling with the time to create an effective marketing strategy then we are always on hand to help contact us today at info@thelittlemarketingcompany.com 

Having read the list of the most common marketing mistakes does this ring true for you and your business? Do you think that you could deal with your marketing in a more efficient way? Perhaps you have great ideas for the marketing of your business but struggle to find the time to properly implement it. We would love to know what you think in the comments below.