Digital marketing is something that could take you to the next level. Depending on the industry your small business is active in, you can use digital marketing for different goals. You may want to increase sales and revenues. You may want to catch the attention of potential clients or stakeholders. You may want to improve your brand awareness. No matter your goals and small business profile, digital marketing turns out to be a pretty helpful tool that could help small businesses accomplish their goals.
However, as digital marketing becomes increasingly popular, more and more small businesses decide to make their online presence known. While some may think that there are not any mistakes you can make online and ruin your reputation, others have already acknowledged that this is possible. Some of these can not only negatively affect your reputation but also kill your small business. So, which are the digital mistakes you can do that will come with negative consequences on your business? Find out below.
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You Do Not Have a Target Audience
When stepping into the digital world, one of the most important things to know is the people you address to. Everyone interested is not an option of defining your target audience. Trying to convince anyone to use or purchase the products or services your business offers is not a realistic expectation and goal. Every business has a domain and industry it is active in, and why not, excels at. The products or services you create for sure are right for a particular group of people, not for all of them. For example, your business might create warehouse management software. Only those businesses that have a warehouse might be interested in using your service. Yes, it is indeed a technique that could help you increase sales and profits, but if applied incorrectly, it can kill your business.
So, how to build a target audience? Which are the things you should look at? How to exactly do it? Well, there are some details you need to pay attention to. You may have already sold some products and collaborated with some clients. Which are their demographics? Where do they live? Which is their age? Which are their needs? To which from their needs can you answer with your products or services? These are some of the questions that could give you some answers that will help you build the buyer personas that are of interest to your small business.
Why is it so important to have these details about your target audience and building one in the first place? Because digital marketing does not only involve posting something on Facebook or making a story on Instagram. You may want to invest in paid ads that help you reach the people that would be interested in your products. But to do this, you need to know how to target them. And having all this information about your target audience will help you navigate the turbulent waters of digital marketing successfully.
You Emphasize the Demographics, Not the Problem
To increase the number of orders for products produced by your small business, you may start doing online marketing. The current health conditions are not favorable for physically organizing something. A common mistake many small businesses make when they build their digital marketing strategy is that they emphasized the demographics, not the problem they are trying to solve.
To reach your target audience, you need indeed to know details about it. Demographics are an essential part that helps you build your buyer personas more accurately. However, when wanting to reach them, you might be tempted to think about your target audience in terms of race, age, religion, residence city, and so on. But these are less important than the common problem your audience has and that you are trying to solve. Your target audience is part of a niche. A niche that you choose to address to and that has kind of the same problem, pain points, needs, or expectations, said Alexander L. from mimy online.
Not Setting Digital Marketing Goals
Whenever you start working on something, setting goals is one of the most efficient ways to track your progress and guide your activity. People often get enthusiastic about new things and projects they are involved in, and this might be your case too. But in this enthusiasm, losing the most important things from sight is something that happens frequently. So, it is important to set goals and always have them in sight because they will not allow you to move away from what you are trying to achieve. But it is often the case of small businesses that avoid or forget to work on their digital marketing goals. And they just start building their social media pages, their website, without having something clear in mind. It is therefore important to set your digital marketing goals.
When setting them, make sure you follow the SMART technique of building goals. Goals need to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bounded. If you build them this way, it will allow you to track your progress, which can be a source of motivation. At the same time, you will identify the things that might need to be modified and you will easily adapt and change what needs to be changed to ensure the success of your digital marketing strategy.
Wrong Content Matched With the Wrong Platform
Another common mistake that many small businesses make and that could kill them is to create the wrong content. Moreover, a mistake that is even more serious is to wrongly match the type of content with the platform you are posting on. There are many types of content you can create and that could increase the engagement of your community or target audience. But people use each social media platform with different goals, and adapting to the specifics of each of them is essential.
For example, on Facebook, you can post an unlimited number of photos and walls of text. You have a limit of 60,000 words, which is a pretty large one. Facebook puts an emphasis on the text, which is different from what Instagram does. Instagram emphasizes photos and visual elements. You have a limit of words so that you can emphasize the graphic elements more. On LinkedIn, people are mostly searching for inspirational and motivational posts, most of which are blog posts.
Final Words
As a small business, the online world can offer you exactly what you need right now. Brand awareness, sales increase, more customers, and a community interested in your business profile and products. However, many small businesses make common mistakes when stepping into the digital marketing world. It is therefore important to avoid making these mistakes and following a few tips and tricks that could guide along the process. Before you start, you need to know your target audience and understand its values, needs, and expectations. Set goals to help you measure your progress and match the content with the right platform. These tips will help you start your digital marketing campaigns right.
