You want the product or service you are selling to be known about, right? Well, that is why you need marketing, and well devised and executed marketing at that. Of course, you can’t optimize your marketing strategy without knowing what some of the most major and devastating mistakes in this field are, as well as how to avoid them. The topic of affordable marketing is one that you can read more about below.
Here are 3 issues to avoid when getting the most bang for your buck with business marketing
Getting too political
Good marketing has a finger on the pulse and leverages trends to its advantage. However, there is one topic that is nearly always best to stay away from when it comes to promoting your product, and that is politics.
In fact, marketing with a political message should pretty much be left to candidates and political parties and shouldn’t come anywhere near products or services that the average business or entrepreneur are offering.
Why is this the case for marketing? Well for several reasons, one being that by associating a product with a political issue, it is likely that you will downplay said issue itself and so come off as insensitive to the very people you are trying to engage.
Of course, the strong opinions and controversy surrounding many political issues won’t necessarily garner you much favor either. Especially, if your message is confused or you inadvertently come down on the wrong side of things and cause a PR disaster!
The Dove body shaped bottle campaign is a great example of a charged message gone awry. Also don’t forget about the Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial for another example of ignorant advertising.
Ignoring local SEO
Another major mistake that too many firms are still making is that they ignore the value of local SEO forms of marketing. In fact, Google has even recently changed its algorithms to give locally optimized business a boost, so it really is a major no-no to ignore this type of promotion as it can significantly damage your bottom line.
To that end, be sure that you use local SEO tactics such as using geotagged place names within the copy on your website. Also, put some time and effort into establishing backlinks from other local companies, and even entering your business’s detail on directory sites that cover the local area as well. Oh and don’t forget that a little paid advertising with PPC that is geared towards your location can’t hurt either.
Not listening to your target demographic
Sadly, many businesses still forget the golden rule of marketing. That is that they must listen to what their customers want. In fact, customer feedback and reactions to the marketing material that you put out should tell you all you need to know to be much more effective the next time around, and if you aren’t using your data in this way, you could be severely damaging your business bottom line.
However, listening to and interacting with customers regarding marketing does come with a caveat, and it is that sometimes people troll. What that is means that if you are running a marketing campaign where you are asking for direct contributions and content from the public, you better have an editing or at least censorship system in place. Otherwise, your company could end up with egg on its face, instead of with marketing that is effective.
