Marketing a startup business is hard
You’re probably running a business for the 1st time and trying to do everything yourself
So how can you avoid these 5 Marketing Mistakes Startup Businesses Make
Read on …
1. Not Sticking To the Marketing Plan
Seriously – You put it in the business plan for a reason
It was the marketing plan which you laboured over for months as you knew it was marketing which would make your dream business become a reality
And the bank funded your 5 figure business loan on that basis
And then as soon you’ve got the funds you totally rip up the marketing plan and hope and pray customers will come
You sat there for days whilst no customers walked through the doors and whilst you enjoyed having some time to yourself to check updates from your friends on Facebook after 30 minutes you were bored and frustrated that nobody was
visiting you
When you read that though you’d think that was an anomaly, but it happens to at least 50% of the businesses we see opening
Stick to the business plan – action your real marketing plan for success!!!
2. Marketing Small – Doing Less Marketing Than The Competition
Most businesses in the market place are “Me Too” businesses – by that I mean there’s plenty of competition around and there’s very little differentiation
In fact in 7 years of networking with 60+ businesses a month I’ve only ever met one business type that I’ve never seen a competitor of before and after …. and that was a Cat Reiki Specialist
To establish yourself in the market you have to do BETTER marketing than the competition and your have do MORE marketing than the competition
Drill down on Quantity and Quality with equal importance
If you want your business to be a success you cannot do that by doing 10% of the marketing that the competition is doing
Dominate not dabbling is key
3. Doing It Cheaply and Doing It Twice
“Buy cheap, buy twice” – you’ve probably heard that before
And you’ve probably heard it most in relation to traditional marketing with cheap online business cards or designing posters in Microsoft Word
It’s just as relevant to the digital age
How many “free” or “cheap” digital marketing workshops will you turn up to, not learn anything new and carry on exactly the same as before
Marketing is a serious investment that your business can live or die buy
Invest it in it wisely whether that be spending a little more wisely on marketing, getting indepth training or working with a marketing strategist
4. Thinking Marketing Can Gloss Over Poor Service or Poor Product
Great marketing gets people through doors or spending cash once
It’s a great product and great service that keeps people coming back for repeat purchases
It’s a great product and great service that makes sure people leave positive reviews online
It’s a great product and great service that makes people spread the word offline to friends and family
If you don’t have the basics in place then your marketing budget will not deliver the return your expect
Take a look here at the Lifetime Value Of A Customer blog here to see how important this is
5. Not Measuring Marketing
There’s one thing scarier than measuring your marketing – and it’s not measuring your marketing
I work in marketing – I love looking at analytics, measuring my marketing, putting together spreadsheets to see what is working and what is not
That’s the difference between marketers and the average business owner
For an average business owner to start looking at stats and analytics it might reveal they’ve failed in some way – they might have spent 100 hours on something that hasn’t worked or they might have wasted £1000 on marketing
Facing up to the truth of what is working and what is not is important though
It enables you to invest more heavily on the things that are working and to either improve or drop the areas of marketing that are not working
NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
Chat to about Social Media Marketing for YOUR business, so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your business
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Or
Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
Alex McCann is owner of Altrincham HQ – a social media management and training company based in Altrincham, Cheshire that has worked with 100s of local business developing their social media strategy. Alex has 350+ LinkedIn testimonials and is ranked number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK via independent customer reviews on Freeindex.
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