Marketing your small business is essential if you want to experience success – perhaps you want to grow, perhaps you don’t. It doesn’t matter whether you want to grow to a multinational corporation or you want to stay the same size for manageability purposes; what matters is that you’re marketing your business well.
Marketing your business is essential whatever your goals are, as you want to bring in new customers and re attract old ones. You want to stay in the forefront of your customers minds and make sure that nobody forgets you and the fantastic service/product that you offer.
However, there are ways that you shouldn’t be marketing your small business. Below, we’ll take a look at the ways you should not be marketing to help you and see what you can rectify. Read on to learn more:
As The Budget/Discount Business
It’s ok to have the occasional flash sale, but becoming known as the permanent budget/discount business can actually be bad for business. You might attract ‘bad’ clients – clients who want something for nothing and are difficult to work with. You will then struggle to increase prices as your business grows or expands the range, even if it’s warranted.
You need to be very careful about how your discount your offerings, making sure you’re not giving yourself a reputation as being permanently discounted. If your services are great and you believe in them, there’s no reason to discount them. People will still want to work with you, and you’ll still attract people away from competitors if you have everything else right.
Doing It Yourself
Doing your marketing yourself might seem smart. You’ll save a ton of money, right? Yes, but you might also lose money because of the silly mistakes that you’re making. The fact is, you could make terrible mistakes that get your business penalized if you’re not a marketing expert. You can teach yourself a ton of things online, but it still is unlikely to be enough to help you get your business where you want it to be. Even if you are an expert in marketing, if this isn’t the reason you started your business, you’re going to have less time to spend on your core practices. You know, the important stuff! It’s much wiser to look for small business marketing services instead, making sure you interview a couple to see what feels right for your business.
Inconsistently
Marketing your business inconsistently isn’t a good idea. In everything you do, you have to be consistent. Your communication must be consistent across various channels, your brand voice must be consistent, as must other branding elements. You need to have a strong picture of your brand before you begin marketing.
Using A Website Alone
Having a website is essential, but using a website alone to market your business isn’t the smartest. Social media marketing is extremely powerful and should be utilized by companies of all sizes.
Now you know how not to market your small business, is there something you’re going to stop doing?