When you’re new to the world of business management and digital marketing, it’s important to minimize the number of mistakes. Even though it’s not possible to run your new business without a single mistake, the fewer wrong steps you make, the less money you’ll waste along the way.
Since SMB-owners sometimes tend to be too optimistic and overzealous about their capabilities, they need to be warned on time about potential threats. That’s why we’ve put together this guide on some common mistakes that should be avoided to ensure steady business growth.
1.Making subjective decisions
Business is mathematics. This is something that new SMB-owners often forget.
Because of that, you need to believe in numbers, and not to your subjective feelings. Your ideas might be as original and ingenious as it gets, but they won’t be worth a cent if they don’t bring revenues.
Also, you should make your business decisions based on metrics, figures, and analyses. For instance, if a product does not sell well, you should either lower the price or offer it within some special packages. Even though you know that the product is worth more, it will become worthless if you don’t start selling it on time.
Closely related to it, if you notice that the cash flow is low, start changing your business strategies at once. Lowering prices, as suggested above, is one of the most efficient and fastest reactions.
To cut a long story short, measure metrics and key performance indicators as much as possible and bring decisions based on those numbers.
2.Aiming at followers instead of leads
One of the major traps of modern digital marketing is the number of likes on social media. However, there may be a huge discrepancy between the number of followers and the number of generated leads.
What you need to aim at are leads and prospects who will either buy your services/products or promote your business.
So, when you’re creating your promotional content, do your best to come up with social media ad copies that convert. Focus on core benefits for people that you’re aiming at, instead of bragging with your achievements or qualities. A customer will buy a product or subscribe to a service if it makes a difference for him/her.
As opposed to that, SMB-owners who only talk about themselves won’t be able to convey the right message and convert followers into buyers.
3.Skipping paid advertising
This is the age of organic traffic. In other words, both online customers and search engines like useful and creative content that brings value to Internet users.
With that in mind, SMB-owners might think that paid advertising isn’t beneficial anymore.
On the one hand, it is true that naturally crafted social media copies or blog posts that bring benefits to customers are great.
On the other hand, however, there are some situations in which paid advertising is still an effective strategy. For instance, a newly launched business page on Facebook has low chances for organic traffic in comparison with some long-lasting established pages.
So, you should consider the benefits of organic and paid advertising on social media and see what types of ads and social networks work best for your business.
4.Failing to target the audience
Generally speaking, whenever you take too wide a road in marketing, the end result is usually not satisfactory.
When it comes to a small business in a digital environment, it’s even more important to narrow down your marketing strategy. That way, you’ll save both your money and time.
In line with that, determine the target audience for your products and services. For example, Netflix targets Millennials more than baby boomers, simply because the former are more familiar with the technology behind it than the former.
So, make sure to target the audience that would be a natural choice for your business services. That way, your marketing efforts will yield as many benefits as possible with frugal investments in the shortest time possible.
5.Neglecting mobile users
Mobile Internet users are a huge and important audience. Entering the digital marketing playground without taking into account this crew might be a huge mistake for a new entrepreneur.
They use mobiles to gather information about different services and products. Also, a lot of mobile users do online shopping via their mobiles.
As the guys from a web design company in Houston claim, launching a mobile-friendly website or even a business app will bring certain benefits to every small business. The website will load faster, which should result in lower bounce rates, and its visitors will be able to use your services or buy your products much faster.
If you go for an app, it can come with integrated ads, which will ensure even more intensive promotion for your business.
Apart from that, enable mobile users to buy from your business website in a smooth and quick manner.
New SMB-owners need to be aware of the power of digital marketing in the modern business world. So, they should adapt to these conditions even before they launch their business. Testing potential target audiences and measuring the market potential of products/services are only some numbers that should obtain before registering a business. The more elements of business you measure beforehand, the less money you’ll waste on mistakes. Hopefully, our guide will help you take the right turns along the road of digital marketing and promote your business in a frugal and efficient way.
AuthorBio: James Barnes is an experienced wedding organizer and blogger at theannexevents.com. He specialized in organizing outdoor wedding events.When he isn’t writing about weddings and marital life, David usually goes swimming or playing squash.