Eight things that might be holding back your marketing strategy’s potential
Is your marketing not performing as well as you’d like? Here are eight things that might be holding back its potential.
Marketing techniques have changed extensively over the years. Between 1450 and 1900, magazine advertisements, billboards, and poster marketing were used to pique consumers’ interest.
Between 1920 and 1949, new mediums such as radio and television became the go-to advertisement methods to reach the masses. Fast forward to today, and most of the marketing we experience is through digital channels.
From a business’s perspective, competing with other companies’ marketing efforts is challenging. However, it’s also entirely necessary if you want your business to get seen and heard.
But suppose your marketing strategy isn’t working? It’s possible one of these eight issues could be holding your business back from gaining the limelight and success it deserves.
1) Lack of expertise
A lack of education and experience poses a severe threat to your marketing strategies’ success. For instance, if you’re attempting to run a PPC campaign alone, or your marketing team is underqualified, it will affect your marketing plan’s success rate.
As a solution, you have two options. You can train yourself or your employees by paying for marketing courses and workshops. Or instead, hire a Digital Marketing Agency that is qualified and experienced to establish a successful marketing campaign or strategy on behalf of your business.
2) An underperforming website
One of the root causes holding back a businesses’ marketing efforts is an underperforming poor website. Here are a few reasons websites experience low traffic and engagement from customers:
- The page loads too slowly. Customers get frustrated and bounce off the page in search of another website.
- The site can’t be found in the organic listings because it has a poor ranking on Google due to bad SEO (search engine optimisation).
- The website is not mobile optimised. Meaning it can’t be viewed easily across mobile or tablet.
- With no CTA (call to action) button visible, the site has no clear direction to lead customers.
The website is a vital component of any business’s marketing strategy. A good, fast website is an expectation, not a luxury. Therefore, it’s crucial to invest in a website that’s optimised, user friendly, and appealing.
3) Inconsistent branding
If your business exhibits mixed messages or inconsistent branding; this is damaging to your marketing strategies and business reputation. Here’s why;
- Customers who draw an association between your adverts mixed messages may think your business is untrustworthy.
- Inconsistent branding and company information may confuse potential customers and cause them to forget your business quickly.
Among many businesses competing for consumers’ attention, how will your brand make a good impression and be remembered if your brand isn’t consistent? It won’t!
Everything from the colour scheme used to the image your company portrays should read the same throughout every aspect of your company. Otherwise, it can tarnish your existing marketing efforts.
4) An unknown target audience
Everything about the marketing strategies you use should be tailored to your target audience. But if you’re unaware of who they are, any marketing techniques incorporated become a gamble of hit or miss.
A significant part of marketing is extensive, ongoing research. To gain a full understanding of your customer from their age, to their location, where they like to eat, and what they do for fun is essential. Because knowing your target audience enables you to create content, that appeals to the people you are trying to entice.
5) An inadequate budget
The marketing budget is often the first outgoing to be reduced when a business isn’t doing well. This is mind-boggling, considering marketing is necessary to attract and retain customers.
If you have to cut back on multiple parts of your company’s, instead look to maximise free marketing opportunities. Such as creating authentic, relevant, quality content for your social media channels and your websites blog. In doing so, you can enhance your site’s SEO and help your online presence get seen by more people searching for keywords relevant to your company.
Also, don’t forget to acquire your Google business listing. It’s free, and it appears above the organic listings on page one of Google – the prime location that online surfers usually click on the page.
6) Difficulty choosing the right platforms
As mentioned above, until you understand who your target audience is, you won’t know what platforms are right to invest time and money in.
For instance, if your target audience is young adults. You wouldn’t want to waste time crafting a formal advert on Linked-in. Instead, you would need to focus on platforms like Tik Tok and create an original video that connects and engages the audience. The only way you’ll fathom what marketing channels are appropriate is by pinpointing who your audience is.
7) No social proof
People trust recommendations of a product or service from friends, family, and even strangers on the internet – more so than a business. The younger generation, in particular, is sceptical of companies and their intentions. And so they turn to social proof online to help them make a purchasing decision with confidence.
For this reason, it helps to encourage online users to create content about your product or service. The more positive reviews, testimonials, and demonstrations there are, the better your reputation will be among online consumers.
8) Unclear goals
The last thing that’s holding your marketing strategies back, and in turn, your business, is vague goals. With defined goals, you can create a clear plan of action to achieve those aims.
For example, if you say you want to grow your Facebook following by 1000 people in a month. You could then use the resources and expertise you have to help you strive towards achieving that goal.
For instance, you could instigate a trending content on social media. With an incentive for new followers to potentially win a prize if they follow and share your page.
And when you’re goal setting, although it’s essential to be realistic, always push a little bit higher than what you think is possible. In doing so, you’ll often achieve much more than you thought you could.
With the guidance above detailing a few ways, your marketing strategies could be being held back. You can now begin creating solutions for your marketing plan to fix it.
Photo by Elio Santos
