The five biggest marketing mistakes small businesses make

How many are you making? Learn the five biggest marketing mistakes small businesses make, and how you can avoid them.

If you’re a small business, the chances are that your marketing budget is similarly petite. So it’s important that you make the right marketing decisions whenever possible, and don’t waste precious time or funds on strategies that aren’t going to work.

The five big marketing mistakes to avoid

To help you steer your marketing activities in the right direction, take a look at five of the biggest marketing mistakes you could make – and learn how to avoid them.

1) Talking to the wrong audience

Make sure your marketing efforts aren’t wasted on an audience who will never buy your product or service. For example, if you own a cake business, advertising on a diabetic website probably won’t pull in many new customers.

For a campaign to work, you need to be really clear about who your customers are and where they are. Then you can explore ways to reach them.

2) Using the wrong mediums

Just because every other company seems to have a Facebook page or Twitter account doesn’t mean they’re right for your business. So before you launch headlong into a new marketing strategy, think about what it will do for you.

Will a Facebook page really help to deliver new customers, build your relationships with existing customers and establish your reputation? If not, is it really worth investing time in?

3) Not enjoying marketing

It’s important to embrace marketing opportunities that suit your interests. If you hate blogging for example, there is a risk your lack of passion will come across in your communications, or it may slip down your list of priorities.

You’ll also be less curious about investigating newer and better ways of doing it, and you’ll come to dread (and put off) dealing with that side of your business. Instead, find marketing activities that you enjoy and that fit with your company’s values – and do them brilliantly.

4) Wrong pricing

When you’re marketing your products or services it’s important not just to think about how much you think they’re worth, but what people will pay for them.

Overprice your offering and all your marketing efforts will be wasted. Undervalue it and you could end up being overwhelmed by customers, but resentful because you’re not making enough money.

So before you spend a penny on advertising, research what your competitors are charging for similar products or services, and conduct market research to find out what customers would be willing to pay.

5) Not identifying a USP

The chances are, whatever products or services you are offering potential customers, you’ll have competition. There will be other companies vying for the same customers, possibly in the same spaces as your advertising and marketing.

So how do you stand out and let people know that you’re the business to choose? The answer lies in your unique selling point – your USP. What do you do that’s different or better to anyone else? Are your products better quality? Made from superior materials? Do you offer a better customer service? Do you promise to deliver your service within 24 hours?

Choose one single thing that marks you out from every other company and work your marketing around that. It will give you standout, attract customers who value that quality, and increase your chances of being remembered.

Need more marketing advice?

You can read more marketing advice for small businesses in these articles: