3 mistakes businesses make with their marketing strategy
I constantly get asked how to write a good marketing plan and I’ve seen some brilliant examples over the years in large organisations and in smaller ones.
Regardless of the type of business, here are the 3 biggest mistakes I see businesses making with their marketing strategy:
They don’t have one!
You’d be surprised how many businesses don’t actually have a marketing strategy, yet they’ve got ambitious business goals to achieve.
Or, they might have a really good strategy but it’s in their head and they haven’t had time to write it down anywhere to look at and review.
If you’re one of those businesses, do this
Dedicate a full day in your calendar and start writing your marketing plan- what are your goals, how will you achieve them (strategy) and what exactly do you need to do (tactics)?.
Keep it simple. Make sure it aligns with your business goals then review it monthly- or even quarterly if you don’t think you have the time.
Write it up into a document that you can refer to or create a ‘one page plan’ each month. It will not only keep you focused on your goals but It will help you get there a lot quicker.
They get distracted from their goals
It’s really difficult for businesses to constantly keep up with changing trends and it’s easy to get distracted by shiny new things.
What to do:
Focus on your own goals and don’t forget about them. Put them somewhere visible on the wall and make sure everyone knows what they are.
With every piece of marketing you create, ask yourself- does this align to my brand purpose and goals? If the answer is no, just don’t do it.
You can still do the ‘shiny new things’ but only do them if they are going to help you achieve your goals.
They’re talking to the wrong audience.
This is a really common problem. Business owners think they need to be on every single social media channel, they struggle to keep up and then just give up.
You’ll never be able to have an impact on every single social media channel and you don’t need to.
My advice?
Focus on a max of 3-4 channels and do them really well. Make sure the channels you choose are the ones where your audience is and post consistently.
For example, Facebook isn’t suitable for my brand so I simply don't use it. But I’d still recommend securing your account names on all channels for the future.
If you’ve got any questions about your marketing strategy feel free to drop me a message.