It’s that time of year. Pumpkins, gourds, and Jack-o-lanterns are on many doorsteps. The air is becoming chilly and leaves are changing to vivid oranges, yellows, and reds.
Autumn is also the perfect season to evaluate your current digital marketing strategy and make any necessary changes as you start thinking about next year’s strategy.
As you consider your marketing strategy, review these 13 “scary” marketing mistakes to avoid.
1. Social Media
One mistake many make on social media is focusing too much on self-promotion – and creating posts on their networks that are solely their content.
Another common faux pas is not posting engaging content – if there are certain types of posts that your audience just isn’t interested in, it might be time to set those aside and try something different. For example, if you haven’t yet utilized video content, we strongly recommend testing the waters as it’s typically much more engaging than a text or image post.
2. Email Marketing
A couple of major mistakes companies can make with email marketing include sending emails too often or sending content that is not useful. How can you avoid these?
As far as frequency, unless it’s a rare circumstance or you’re sending extremely targeted emails, try not to send emails more than once per week. If your contacts become overwhelmed, they may be more likely to unsubscribe.
For sending useful content, one strategy we’ve found incredibly helpful is targeting specific personas with content that interests them rather than generic content.
3. Content
From inconsistency to not utilizing keywords to not using guest authors, these are just a few mistakes to avoid with your content.
While simply having a blog is a step in the right direction, one mistake companies make is not keeping it updated regularly. This can happen easily if you’re lacking time, writers, or ideas. In order to consistently create and publish content, it can be incredibly helpful to build a content calendar that holds you accountable to publishing blogs regularly – and put the right processes in place to ensure it happens, such as finding writers.
In addition to consistency, both your blog and other site content should focus on the keywords that make the most sense for your industry and audience rather than choosing random topics. In particular, developing a topic cluster strategy can be helpful for your overall content strategy.
Finally, don’t underestimate the value of utilizing a guest author from time to time. A guest blog can provide a fresh perspective for your audience and can also bring linking opportunities both from the guest author as well as to their website.
4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Is your site set up for success when it comes to SEO? The biggest mistake a company can make is leaving it to chance or doing it incorrectly.
SEO is a broad term that covers many aspects of your website. For example, if you haven’t optimized page title tags with keywords, meta descriptions with accurate information to help searchers know if they should click through to your site, or perhaps don’t have your blog posts formatted properly, you could be setting your website up for failure.
Utilizing topic clusters and organizing your content in a way that it can be used as long form content is another opportunity many companies do not take advantage of to position themselves for higher ranking in search engine results.
5. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
While PPC can be extremely helpful for bringing new and valuable leads to your website, there are a couple of ways in which you could be wasting time and money.
For companies just starting out with PPC, starting with a large budget could be a big mistake. Since it takes time to build a solid PPC strategy as you test out results from different campaigns and keywords, it’s best to start small and increase your budget as you go.
Or if you’ve been using PPC for awhile but aren’t getting any results, you might be throwing money away when it’s not right for your industry or company.
6. Web Design
Aside from never updating your website, there are a few other mistakes companies often make with website design.
While your website may have been updated within the last few years, sometimes that’s not enough. If your site isn’t responsive, you could be driving visitors away due to a poor user experience. A responsive design will render well on any device, window, or screen size.
Another mistake some companies might make is hiring someone to redesign your site utilizing a traditional maintenance package. An agency that uses growth-driven design will ensure your website is updated according to data reviewed over a given period of time.
Finally, many businesses might be missing out generating leads on your site due to the lack of conversion points on your site. Aside from having a contact page, you should also ensure there is a call-to-action of some sort on each page so visitors can request more information about your products or services.
7. Video Marketing
If you’re not currently using video in your marketing strategy, you could be missing out on gaining the attention of many in your audience as well as attracting potential leads to your company.
Not only does video have great ROI, it’s also a great way to increase engaging and sharing on social networks. Learn more about the benefits of a video marketing strategy.
8. Focusing on Your Audience Rather Than Your Product
We know all of your marketing efforts ultimately affect one thing – selling your product.
However, it can be a problem if your marketing strategy is only focused on a selling a product rather than solving a problem for your target audience.
Put yourself in their shoes – what questions do they have? What about challenges? Answer those questions with thoughtful content aimed toward helping future customers.
9. Don’t Make Vague Promises
You’ve likely heard the typical marketing promises from many businesses – we’re the best, most efficient, most accurate, etc. While these are all great things, they don’t tell potential customers very much about what you’ll deliver. Focus on specific promises such as, “our software will eliminate 50% of your workload.”
10. Simplify Your Message
One mistake many marketers make is overcomplicating their marketing to make their company look smarter. However, this will only confuse people, meaning that your marketing will have missed the target altogether. Simplify your message to the best of your ability and potential customers can take it from there with questions.
11. Never Make Changes Without a Reason
Have you ever heard that you shouldn’t make a decision based on feelings rather than logic and reason? The same goes for marketing decisions. Just because something is promoted as the next best way to promote your business – don’t jump on the bandwagon immediately. Your customers and potential customers might already be perfectly happy with your current offering, so changing without the data to back up your reasoning would be unwise.
For example, in 1985 Coke made the decision to change their recipe in response to Pepsi’s new marketing campaign boasting that people preferred the taste of Pepsi over Coke. However, Coke’s quick decision to change its recipe was a massive failure – those who already loved Coke enjoyed it for its classic flavor, resulting in many hoarding the Classic Coke and selling it on the black market. The timeless lesson here is – if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
12. Overlooking Customer Service
Depending on your product or service, customer service can play a key role in your company’s brand and reputation. So, if customer service a major part of what you offer for customers, don’t overlook the fact that it’s important to keep happy customers happy. Not only for an ongoing relationship with them, but also because they’ll be the first to refer your company to someone else.
13. Take Advantage of Networking, Conferences, and Speaking
Another mistake you should avoid is ignoring opportunities to interact face to face with potential customers or influencers for your business.
From networking events, conferences, and speaking opportunities, each of these can provide an opportunity to learn, meet others in your industry, and of course, gain exposure for your company.
If any of these mistakes sound all too familiar, starting planning to make changes as soon as possible! If you need help with any of these areas, reach out to Spot On.
