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Do 10 good deeds, and no one gives a damn. Make one mistake, and the whole world goes bonkers. For maximum attention, nothing beats a reasonable mistake. Mistakes are useful in two scenarios. First, when no one knows who did it, and second if you learn from it. Starting a business is easy. You just put a little effort (okay, an insane amount of effort) on designing and developing the website, gain social media following, and money starts appearing from nowhere. Right? Wrong!
Nothing good can be achieved without making a handful of mistakes. So, if you are planning to get filthy rich, prepare yourself to fail a lot. Mistakes are bad if you don’t learn from them. Mistakes are useful if you learn and make new mistakes instead. Making the same mistake, again and again, is not wise at all.
To grow your business, it’s crucial that you do impactful marketing. Also, nothing good can be achieved if you don’t learn from your mistakes and move ahead like a true warrior. As a new business, you will make many mistakes. But since you are reading this blog post, you might prevent yourself from making some lousy mistakes that can kill your business in an instant.
Let’s look at some of the most common mistakes that marketing professionals make and what you can do about it. Stop whatever you’re doing and read the blog carefully.
Avoiding the Golden 80/20 rule
Of course, you might have heard of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. Here is the rule in its purest form, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. This means you must invest 80% of your efforts providing value to your top 20% of the customers.
Take a good look at the marketing messages that you’re sending to your customers. Find out that 20 % of customers are giving you 80% of the business. Invest all your efforts in crafting personalized messages for that 20 % of the customers.
Your USP is not clear
There is a fearsome competition out there. It’s like a jungle in which only those animals that roar hard get the pray. Your roar is your Unique Selling Proposition(USP).
If you begin with the wrong or confused USP, you’ll not be able to create that special connection with the customer. Every piece of marketing material that you send to make sure that it is centered around your USP.
If you are good at something, let the user know why you are different from your competitors. There is a fearsome competition out there. If you are a professional marketing in New York, let the people know what that one thing that makes you different than others is.
Don’t market anything that doesn’t have your USP on it!
Not retaining valuable customers
Write this on a piece of paper and stick it to the most prominent whiteboard in your office, “80% of the business comes from repeated customers while only 20% comes from new customers.” This makes it clear that you should work hard on retaining old customers.
If you fail to resell the product to an old customer, it means your profits will decrease pretty soon. Do you know that it will cost you five times to make a new customer than to retain an old one?
It is easy to regain old customers; it is difficult to make new customers and build trust with them. Whether you are starting or are already a well-established business, you must work more on retaining old customers.
Give them incentives, give them a discount, and even award them points. Don’t make the mistake of losing an old customer just for the sake of creating new customers.
Don’t Overpromise
We live in a world built with empty promises, constructed by lies. You don’t want to destroy the reputation of your brand by making fake promises. E-commerce website owners usually make the mistake of promising quick delivery even when they are running short of the delivery guys. Don’t be dumb. If you cannot deliver the product in 2 days, confess!
When you set expectations for the customer, you are bound to deliver. Moreover, when you fail to provide customer label your brand with a never-try-this-brand-again. To make a good impression, under promise and overdeliver. How? If your brand takes two days to deliver a product, tell the customer that it’ll take three days and surprise them with a 2-day delivery.
Ignoring new platforms
A Harvard Business study revealed that companies who use several channels and platforms for marketing are more profitable than those who rely on one medium.
The digital world is evolving at an alarming rate. If you do not take every opportunity that you get to get your word out there, it will be difficult for you to survive. Invest some time in learning each new platform. Get good at it and use it wisely.
No need to waste time on a new platform if your target audience is not using the platform. If you know that your target audience is on the platform, make all the effort to help them out and give them whatever they need to solve their problem.
The future of marketing is involved. In this digital cosmos, the only way to stand out is by providing beautiful, meaningful experiences to customers. If you want to succeed, avoid the mistakes mentioned above and get the customer experience right.
