Top 10 Reasons Why Your Marketing Isn't Working

It is always a great time to work on promoting your business and creating content that sets you apart as an industry leader.  Here is some helpful insight as to why your marketing initiatives may be falling short.

10- It is Swiss cheese.

Your marketing has holes and inconsistencies.  You start off strong and then you get so busy working “in your business” that you no longer have the time to “work on your business.” Marketing is not a one and done activity.  It is a long term investment of time and focus.  Marketing is only effective when you and your team are consistently executing it. 

9- Lack of meaningful content

That’s great you want to celebrate “National Margarita Day” but when you are trying to build a business and connect with potential clients you want to always be providing value.  Otherwise, it is just white noise and another post clogging up the newsfeed or another email flooding their inbox.  You want to stand out, be informative and be memorable.  Now, if you are a bar or restaurant owner, having a marketing campaign focused on “National Margarita Day” providing margarita recipes and drink specials, that would be an excellent idea.

8- Not connecting with your target audience

This goes hand in hand with your content.  If you are producing meaningful, educational content that speaks to your industry; you will have a better chance at connecting and securing a relationship with your audience.  Think about what issues your client base is faced with and how you can provide information and solutions to these issues.  This will set you apart from your competitors as an expert in your field. 

7- Not following up

Sales are often made on the 12th attempt to contact.  That means a whole lot of follow up is needed after your initial contact.  You have provided a service of preparing a cost estimate and service offering (proposal); your prospect at the very least owes you a response on whether or not they will be purchasing your product or service.  Wouldn’t you want to receive some feedback on your pricing and proposal even if you did not win the job?  An easy way to keep on top of your open items is to track in CRM system or simply setting follow up reminders on your calendar. 

In addition, making contact with a prospect should be about building a relationship.  People work with people they like and trust. 

6- Poor communication

Say what you mean and mean what you say.  Your messaging should be clear and consistent.  Every social media post or blog you create is another opportunity to connect and engage with your clients and potential clients.  Make it count! 

And even if your content is good, if you are not interacting and responding to comments it makes you appear unresponsive and not engaged.  Especially if someone has a complaint it is vital to address and resolve as quickly as possible.

5-Too focused on selling rather than educating

Every piece of content you publish sounds like a paid advertisement for your company.  Yes, it is important for your target audience to know what you do but it is even more important to provide value and not just rattle off a list of services.  This means everything you publish should be informative and educational in nature.  Focus on the solutions you provide. 

4-Your website stinks!

How can your clients find you if your website has poor SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?  SEO refers to how well your company shows up in a Google (or similar search engine) search.  If your website is optimized with the appropriate key words, your website will rank very well on a web search. 

In addition, there is nothing more frustrating than trying to find information or a way to contact a company via outdated and overly crowded website.  Your website should be easy to navigate and constantly updated with news and fresh content.  It should also be interactive and provide opportunities to contact directly to request more information or a proposal. 

3-Lack of social media strategy

“Social media doesn’t work.”  Social media only works if you do.  Another item that takes a little time and dedication.  Take the time to set up weekly or even daily posts that tie into the content you are creating.  Post or even share articles that are informative and relevant to your business and industry.  It doesn’t have to be complicated or elaborate, the idea here is to put yourself and your business out there as a reliable, credible source. 

You should be engaging with your connections as much as you want them to engage with you.  A helpful tip:  not everyone sees a ‘like’ but everyone sees a ‘comment.’  Just by posting a simple comment on a connections post, you will get seen and boost engagement not to mention make your friends feel great for encouraging them!

2- You don’t have a plan.

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  It is imperative to have a plan and roadmap to help you reach where you are going.  Marketing should be a collection of well thought out initiatives attached to a timeline. 

1-You don’t have measurable goals.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”  This applies to marketing as well.  How do you know if your marketing is working if you have no means to measure and track it?  There are a myriad of programs and Client Relationship Managers (CRM) available to help with this need.  Everything from your client information, open proposals to marketing endeavors and dollars can be tracked in an easy to use, cloud based database.

For more information regarding this article or to subscribe to my mailing list, please contact me directly:  jessica@vailmarketingsolutions.com