Marketing a business is fraught with great success and even bigger failure. As experienced business owners can attest, beginning your marketing journey feels like your continually tripping, making repeated mistakes without any hope of progression. When marketing your business, there are no guarantees of success. However, there are certain things businesses should avoid, and we break each down one by one!

Zero social media

There aren’t many industries that can successfully survive without a social media presence. As we progress further into digital dominance, antiquated marketing techniques will soon be a thing of the past, with platforms like social media becoming the only way to advertise. Despite what others are doing in your industry, it’s naive to believe your business will survive without it, as consumers look more towards social media for social proof and an easier reach to the business. Playing catch up later isn’t ideal; though your time is in high demand during your start-up phase, it’s best to develop this highly vital marketing avenue for your business as early as possible.

Aiming too high

On the other side, having too much social media can be just as detrimental if done badly. Businesses sometimes assume they need every type of social media platform there is, signing up to YouTube, Pinterest and Tumblr when a Facebook page would have sufficed. Social media needs to be manageable for the business, as it requires balance with the other avenues of the business. A YouTube account that is only updated a few times a year with poor quality content can do more damage than not having a YouTube channel at all.

Poorly targeted SEO

Search engine optimisation is a fickle beast; though most business owners understand the general concept, mastering the processes and tactics to capitalise on this marketing technique successfully is tricky. The do-it-yourself approach to SEO often results in poorly target keywords and optimisation, with much of the website missing essential information or devised incorrectly. Unfortunately, this can happen despite all of the best intentions. As search engine optimisation is continuously evolving, it usually requires skilled digital marketing professionals to best optimised new businesses and less established online presences.

Making data-less decisions

Instinct and hunches play some part in digital marketing, but not as much as data. Numbers, facts and figures drive marketing decisions, as we use these to gauge the success of every marketing campaign and advertising technique. There is much data to be gathered and analysed, both before and after launching a campaign. Before launching analysis entails the data surrounding successful campaigns from previous efforts (or similar businesses), sales trends in the relevant industry – as well as search trends – as they will help predict the likelihood of success. For any business, data that specific to their core business tends to dominate decision making, as we rely on website traffic data, social media interactions and physical sales to motivate new ideas.

Neglecting to test and trial

Trialling and testing is very much a part of the digital marketing process. Though we like to think our campaigns and marketing efforts will be an instant success, this is nearly never the case. Before launching any marketing campaign, the most successful businesses test their concepts with their audience in some capacity. Whether it be through focus groups or pre-launches, or alike activities, testing the market is essential to avoid serious financial mistakes. Though every business idea is essentially a gamble, we can reduce potential damage through testing with smaller budgets and variables.

Are you looking to transform your online presence? Are you looking to make a significant return on your investment? Contact us now to book in your obligation free consultation with one of our digital marketing experts.