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It’s easy to look at the modern means of conducting business, especially in the service sector, and see how important digital utilities have become. With Cloud storage, remote working, cybersecurity protections, online branding, and outsourcing, it seems that companies which have failed to adapt to the digital age are needlessly holding them back.

Yet it’s also true to say that in some cases, digitization is not always one hundred percent suitable for all business processes. After all, bringing some staff into your physical premises is important for good collaboration and the proper development of your talent, while bringing clients into your private meeting space can be better than simply emailing them the entire time, particularly if agreeing upon a worthwhile deal, selling high-value real estate, or working through a sensitive case.

But what business processes may not be appropriate for digitization, or should work in physical tandem with your digitization efforts, without one eschewing the other? This may be tough to think through, so let’s discuss the topic together:

Archives & Records

While it’s good to digitize archives and records, not all of them can be implemented into the system at once, and it’s also good to keep the original paper copies where appropriate. Storing this can be tough, which is why roller racking installations are often considered the best solution. This way, you can ensure that files upon files are easily accessible and organized, especially if your digitization efforts only really stretch to the most recent decade. 

Negotiating Contracts

When negotiating contracts with clients, suppliers or other business-to-business connections, it’s important to implement a confidential, face-to-face appointment. Contracts with a degree of depth, where both parties and their legal counsel can look through the terms, simply cannot be formatted securely or easily over video conferencing apps. This is why curating a private meeting space in your own offices or agreeing on a neutral space you can rent out, for the time being, is so useful. It will also add a degree of legitimacy to the affairs, as minute-keepers can also ensure the transcripts of the conversation and any binding contractual witnesses are kept in the same place.

Workplace Training

While educating staff or students online is considered a capable substitute, it will never be as simple and effective as in-person training. Investing in your staff to attend seminars and training programs as opposed to simply performing online learning can be very helpful, especially when it comes to interpersonal matters like public speaking. Alternatively, attending conventions or industry panels can help you understand how other businesses are navigating updates or challenges in your market – such as how certain legislative bodies will be changing the regulatory measures you must comply with. Over time, workplace training will ensure a cohesive output across the team, but only if this is attended in person for the most part.

With this advice, you’re sure to see that digitization is important, but not always 100% suitable for all business processes. So – don’t feel out-manoeuvred by wholly online businesses, as there’s more nuance here to consider.

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. 

Marketing is one of those things that divides people when it comes to opinions on how important it is. However, it is very important. No matter what anyone else tells you, marketing is going to be essential to keeping your business afloat, which is why it’s so important that you are taking the time to invest in it. If you’re not putting the right money into it, then you’re not going to see success which is where you might have found yourself. Keep reading down below if you would like to find out more about why you’re not seeing success in your marketing. 

You’re Not Thinking Outside The Box

First, the problem could be that you’re not thinking outside of the box. You need a range of different tactics to get your marketing where it should be, and that requires a marketing oriented brain or a whole team of people to achieve. Thinking outside of the box will really give you that unique flare that you require to get ahead on the market, which is what a lot of customers are looking for these days.

For example, it might be the case that you want to get some light up signs and buy Trojan batteries to go with it. This is an outside of the box idea that might be worth taking a look at, but it’s not always going to work for your business. Make sure that your marketing matches the people that you are targeting.

You’re Not Trying

It’s also important that you are actually trying to see success with your marketing. It’s not always easy, but you have to be willing to put in the effort where it’s needed to see success. It might be the case that you need to hire some outside help to provide you with the extra help that you need. If you are taking a backseat when it comes to your marketing, then you’re not giving your business your all, which will result in failure.

You Don’t Have The Right Team

If you are relying on a marketing team to give your business the best start in life then you need them to be the best of the best. If you only have a half-hearted team on your side then they won’t have your business’s best interests at the forefront of their mind. When it comes to finding the right people it is all about the advert you put out. This needs to be strong and contain all the training, qualifications, and experience the applicants need to possess. 

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the reasons that you might not be seeing success with your marketing. This is a problem that a lot of businesses have either in the beginning, or later down the line. The important thing is that you notice that there is an issue, and then fix it as soon as you can. We wish you the very best of luck with this.