Top 3 Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Marketing can be a tricky business. You want to make sure you're reaching the right people without having to spend a bucket of time or money in the process.
To help you avoid common marketing pitfalls, here are my top 3 marketing mistakes and how to avoid them.
Mistake number 1.
Not Defining Your Ideal Clients
This is probably the biggest mistake I see businesses make when it comes to marketing.
Without a clear understanding of who your ideal clients are, it's impossible to create an effective marketing strategy (see mistake number 2).
How to avoid marketing mistake number 1.
Defining your ideal client is not easy. If it was, then everyone would do it. However, it's really, really, really important to invest your time into this.
Identifying the demographics of your ideal clients will help you work out what marketing activities you need to do. And where and when to do them.
After identifying your demographics you need to work out, what we marketers call, the psychographics of your ideal clients. These are the values and behaviours that drive their decision making. In other words, really delve into why your ideal clients choose you and your products or services.
Understanding the psychographics of your ideal clients will help you craft your marketing messages so that you easily connect and engage with them and they become loyal, return clients and raving fans of your business.
Mistake number 2.
Not having a documented marketing strategy and plan.
Without a marketing strategy, it's easy to waste time and money on marketing activities that don't line up with your business goals.
A marketing strategy really is the starting point for any marketing you do. Otherwise, it’s like throwing marketing spaghetti against a wall and hoping some of it sticks.
While you might see some success (sticky spaghetti 😊), chances are you’ll end up wasting a lot of your time and money on marketing activities that just don’t work (spaghetti on the floor) ☹. And that's a huge waste of your time, money, and effort.
How to avoid marketing mistake number 2
A marketing strategy and plan doesn't have to be a 30+ page document with lots of pretty pictures and fluffy words. It can be as simple as a document that includes:
- your marketing goals
- your ideal clients (target market)
- key messages
- brand position
- marketing plan and budget
You can create this as a word doc, a spreadsheet, a board (think Trello, Asana, Monday). Choose whatever works for you. Have your strategy and plan in a place where you will access it regularly.
Your marketing plan is part of your marketing strategy. While your plan will have more detail around the marketing activities you are going to delivery, it doesn't have to be complex. Simply create a table that outlines the timeline for your marketing activities.
Here's a simple marketing strategy on a page.
And here's a really, really, simple marketing plan template.
Mistake number 3. Forgetting about SEO
SEO means Search Engine Optimisation – aka where you appear in a Google search or a Bing search (or any other search engine tool). But let's face it, most people use Google, so we'll say it's your Google ranking. You can read more about SEO here.
Everyone uses the internet to find out information, which is why it's sooooo important to make sure your website is optimised for search engines (SEO).
If you're forgetting about SEO, you're just making it harder for your ideal clients to find you.
How to avoid marketing mistake number three and optimise your website for search engines
SEO can be complex. However, there are some key things you can do to make sure your website is optimised for search engines.
Although the search engine algorithms are constantly changing, keywords are still important.
Do some research on the keywords or key phrases that your ideal clients would use when searching for businesses like yours.
Then use those words throughout your website. This includes in your page titles, headings, meta descriptions and in the body copy on each page. But beware of keyword stuffing. This is when you stuff so many keywords into your content that it's no longer readable by humans. Not good.
Make sure your website is mobile friendly. More and more people are searching the internet on their mobile phones. If your website is not optimised for mobile, people will not only struggle to find your site, if they do happen to find it, chances are they'll immediately leave it if it's not mobile friendly because it's too hard to read and navigate.
Finally, create fresh content regularly. This could be in the form of a blog, an email newsletter or even a podcast. Google loves fresh content and the more often you update your website, the higher you will rank in search engine results pages.
On your way to marketing success
So, there you go. You now know my top 3 marketing mistakes and how to avoid them.
Which means it's time to review your marketing to make sure you're not making these mistakes? And if you are, then put those actions in place to fix them. Do that and you'll be well on your way to marketing success!
Remember:
- know your ideal client
- have a documented marketing strategy and plan
- focus on your SEO.
Good luck! ☺️
P.S. If you need help with any of the above or any other marketing, I offer a range of services that can help.
