There’s no doubt marketing is an important part of running a startup or small business. However, if you’re like most startup founders or small business owners, you’ve never run a company before and the chances are you don’t know everything about marketing. This can sometimes leave your small business committing some of the deadliest marketing sins. If you’re wondering what these are, make sure you read on.
Arguing with your customers publicly
Social media really is a great place for promoting your small business. Still, if you don’t think before you respond to comments, it can also hurt your company’s reputation quite a lot. This is especially the case when responding to negative comments made by your followers. That said, you need to make sure you think every time before you post a comment. It’s even better idea to have someone check your comment before you post it. That way, you’ll get a chance to ensure you don’t sound passive aggressive or offend a follower. Also, bear in mind that saying “sorry” is an absolute must, even if you’re not feeling sorry about a problem your customer is facing.
Not keeping up with the changes
Unfortunately, many small businesses out there are marketing dinosaurs. The ways a small business can approach a customer keep changing and if you fail to stay up-to-date, chances are your business is going to fail as well. Ignoring the marketing trends might help you scrape away some money but it’ll get you nowhere. Therefore, taking a look at other companies in your industry and identifying the approaches that work for them might be a good idea. That should help you figure out what your customers want and what can help you bring your products/services closer to them. Think of it this way – 10 years ago, no one had heard of Facebook and now, every company uses it for their marketing purposes.
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Doing everything yourself
When running a small business, you might be tempted to deal with all the marketing yourself. No matter how much you know about marketing, it’s always a safer idea to have experts help you out. Large companies usually have an in-house marketing team that’s in charge of coming up with marketing ideas. But with most small businesses not being able to afford to assemble an in-house marketing team, outsourcing your marketing efforts can turn out to be a good idea. That way, you’ll have professionals help you promote your small business without having to break the bank. Luckily, there are plenty of marketing experts out there who specialize in promoting small businesses.
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Not giving out promotional items
We talked earlier about the importance of following the most recent marketing trends, but it seems that some marketing channels are always relevant. This is the case with promotional items and leaving these out of your marketing strategy is a real sin. People love getting stuff for free and this is something you should definitely use to your advantage. This means you should think about promotional items your customers will like and start designing them. If you’re not sure which items you should go for, there are experts who can help you design promotional items for your company. Just bear in mind that things like t-shirts, cups and USB flash drives are something you can never go wrong with.
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Not measuring your success
One of the things you’ll hear when it comes to marketing is – if you can’t measure it, don’t do it.” Employing a marketing strategy you’re not able to measure is like hiring an employee without being able to keep track of their performance. In marketing, you simply have to know what’s working for your company and what’s not. Therefore, when designing your marketing efforts, bear in mind that you need to go for something that you can measure. If you decide to promote your company on social media, you can turn to experts who can help you measure which platforms work for you the best. Moreover, they should be able to help you identify the influencers you should turn to.
Make sure you’re not making any of these 5 marketing sins and your small business will be on the right track. Just don’t forget to reevaluate your marketing approach from time to time and there should be nothing stopping you from conquering it all.
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