When you look at the amount of marketing advice out there at the minute, it can seem overwhelming. Where do you even start? 

Here are the most common mistakes that SMEs make when it comes to their marketing. 

Not Realising How Important It Is

How and where you market your business is vital to its success. You may have the best product or service in the world, but if people don’t know about it, it isn’t going to make you any money. Whether it’s your branding, social media marketing or website, these are all marketing elements. 

Not Understanding Your Target Audience

It’s amazing how often companies try to be all things to all people. They don’t want to focus their marketing for fear of turning not reaching everyone. This is the fastest way to a losing marketing strategy. Understanding who your audience is and how your product helps them is the key to your marketing strategy. It will inform where you spend your marketing budget and the channels that you use. 

For example, if your product is meant for younger people, and you focus your attention on things like Facebook, you’re probably going to find that this isn’t where they hang out online. Younger audiences are far more likely to be on TikTok, YouTube or Instagram. 

Get your buyer personas in order so you can focus your marketing properly. 

Trying To Do Too Much, Too Soon

Unless you have a lot of money to spend on your marketing, you’re going to need to roll out any marketing strategy carefully. Rather than trying to launch on every channel simultaneously, but erratically, it’s far better to choose a few key aspects to focus on, such as your SEO, social media and paid advertising. 

If you’re planning to use a number of social media accounts on different platforms, learn how to tailor content for each platform. It’s better to run one social media account well than three badly. 

Making It All About You

The best marketing campaigns are those that acknowledge and solve the problems of their target market rather than constantly talk about themselves. If your marketing is all me, me, me, then people will soon get tired of it and move to a competitor that is acknowledging their needs.

Not Being Consistent With Your Branding

Your brand is much more than your logo, it’s your tone of voice, your values and how you present yourself across your marketing. It should make your company or products familiar to your customers and your target market.  Check that every marketing element that you put out is following your brand. 

Key Points

A strong marketing strategy has many elements, which is why it’s easy for companies to make mistakes. Taking a half-hearted approach or not recognising its value of it will ultimately not get you the results your want, which is a waste of time and money. 

Working with marketers and social media specialists who know what they’re doing and can recommend the right way forward for your business.