5 reasons why your marketing isn’t working
5 reasons why your marketing isn’t working
Marketing means different things to different people. I am posting every day or two on social media. Billboards on highways. Cold-calling. (Now that’s a topic most people feel strongly about!)
If it’s working, you’re building your brand, finding and keeping customers, and growing your business.
So, I’m asking you to be honest. Is your marketing working?
Whether your answer is ‘no,’ ‘not sure,’ or ‘kind of,’ it’s time to revisit where you might be going wrong.
Here are 5 reasons why your marketing may not be cutting through
1. You’re trying to do it all by yourself
If you’re running a small to medium-sized business, I suspect you’re busy doing whatever you do. You’re probably juggling many hats.
Apart from the overwhelming, this can mean that some things don’t get the thorough attention they deserve—such as marketing.
It could be time to consider calling for help by outsourcing some key marketing activities slipping between the cracks. You might hire a marketing specialist – like a copywriter to write your website.
Or you could hire a virtual assistant to take on some of the mundane tasks in your business. Subsequently, a good VA can give you the correct type of support so you can devote time to marketing.
2. You can’t afford to invest in marketing
Budgets can be tight for start-ups and smaller businesses trying to establish themselves. It’s hard to part with the money you may need to spend on marketing to build your business.
But the truth is that good marketing is an investment. Spent wisely, it should pay for itself – and more.
As with any investment, you must always test, measure, and review your return on investment. ‘Set and forget is not an option.
3. You don’t stand out from your competitors
For some businesses, this is a hard one. But if you’re not giving prospective customers a good reason to choose you over others, it’s time to go back to square one.
What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? Go back to the critical problem you solve for your clients. How do you do this differently? How do you add value to the ‘transaction’ with your customers?
It could be that what you think is your USP isn’t why clients choose you or your competitor. Maybe you know what you’re good at, but you’re not communicating your USP.
Clarifying what sets you apart from your competitors is essential for any successful marketing activity. Then, review your website and all your client materials to ensure you’re addressing your client’s needs.
4. Marketing is not a priority
When things are going well, you can tell yourself that you don’t need to do marketing.
But as you’ve probably heard, marketing is a constant for any business. So, waiting until your incoming inquiries have come to a grinding halt will take time to crank up the marketing machine.
Creating a marketing calendar of activities (that you stick with) makes you more likely to keep business inquiries and sales coming in all year round.
5. You have marketing tactics – not a marketing strategy
You know what I’m going to say here, right? “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Thinking through the bigger picture – the overall plan for your business takes time and effort. For example, doing many marketing activities might keep you busy, but what’s your strategy?
From working out your business goals to understanding your customers and competitors and nutting out the ‘problem’ you’re solving for your clients. But there is much to do before you jump in and start doing Facebook ads.
To succeed, you need some form of marketing plan. Whether it’s a ‘one-pager’ or a more extensive plan, take time out to document your marketing strategy. It’ll pay off.
We hope you have found this article about 5 reasons why your marketing isn’t working helpful.
If you’d like to know more about making your marketing work, please get in touch. Just call Katarina on 0415 128 804.