There are few things as disappointing as putting in the hard work and sweat into your business but seeing it stagnant. To make matters worse, everything you’ve tried has had either lackluster or mixed results. If you’ve ever felt frustrated about your marketing efforts, we know what you’re going through.
The harsh truth is that marketing is an art form that many in the industry still do not fully understand. Some agencies that promise to 10x your growth don’t even know the ABCs of good marketing. In this article, we will help you narrow down some of the key reasons why your marketing budget seems to be useless for the moment.
1. You Are Focusing Too Much on Marketing and Not Marketing Strategy
This is a far more serious situation and exceeds what some might call a ‘common mistake.’ You see, when businesses hire marketing firms, the key metric that’s going to be tracked is results. You pay the firm money, and in return, they are supposed to get you a commensurate amount of growth.
The University of Lincoln points out some interesting data. Apparently, most people are subjected to almost 10,000 marketing materials every day. It’s no wonder then that 84% of people want content that at least entertains or offers us solutions.
However, this starts to fall apart because marketing firms start chasing quick results that end up damaging your growth potential in the long run. We see this happening so often in the case of search engine optimization. You’ll have a relatively new SEO management firm that tries to keyword stuff because they see you as a potentially long-term client.
We’ll be elaborating more on SEO in the next point, but right now, we need to realize that strategy is so important. According to Huckleberry Branding, you want someone who approaches your business with the willingness to do in-depth analysis.
Sometimes, this might mean going back to the basics if need be and looking at your target audience, your value proposition, and your communication. Is there a perfect balance happening between these three key tenets?
If not, how can you expect marketing efforts to be effective? Still, even with good strategy, sometimes, poorly implemented techniques can work against you, as is often the case with SEO.
2. Your SEO Approach May Be Too Ambitious
One reason that marketing efforts aren’t working for you is that your SEO team is trying to be too ambitious. Say you’re a business owner in a city like Nashville, Tennessee, and you have hired a Nashville SEO company to help grow.
Some might argue that you don’t even need to try considering how the city ranks among the best for business growth. According to BrainTrust, Nashville has topped the list of best markets for investment for the third year in a row. You can imagine how businesses may be thriving here.
However, this also means a lot of intense competition that can either go in your favor or not. If you hire an SEO company and their targeting is way too broad, that’s a red flag. This is particularly so if you are a small or medium business.
Trying to rank for the same keywords that well-established players are competing with you on is a recipe for disappointment. Once again, strategy is important here as well. Whoever is doing your SEO work needs to take a closer look at your audience and narrow things down.
The earlier you start this process the better because time is also an important factor. Did you know that Nearly 60% of the pages ranking in the top 10 Google results are 3 or more years old? This tells us that older content tends to perform better in search rankings.
Stop competing for the top 5 keywords and go for those more specific and long-tailed ones. You don’t get to jump right ahead of everyone else so easily. Growth isn’t instant, so let your SEO work be practical and realistic.
3. A Lack of Genuineness and Authenticity
Marketing experts focus so much on methods and techniques that they often forget they are selling to people. When every single company takes the exact same route to advertise itself, it can feel incredibly shallow.
According to Salesforce, 80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services. In other words, authenticity is crucial for brand trust and loyalty. Think about it, when was the last time you felt a large company share what sounded like something genuine and authentic?
The language used always sounds pre-packaged and fake, and that gets noticed by customers. “We are so excited to introduce our brand new product.” How many times have you heard that before? The way businesses talk to their customers has become such a trope that it’s even become subject matter for parodies.
Is it any wonder that customers are looking for some of the old-world charm that used to come with advertising? These days, businesses are afraid of taking risks and putting in some personality to their brands.
As a result, the clean and clinical branding only goes so far as to attract new customers. In other words, don’t be afraid to try something new with your branding and messaging. It just might help give your business what it needs to start moving forward. Of course, take a measured approach, because you can go too far in the other direction as well!
Wrapping up, finding a successful marketing effort can feel like a never-ending quest. That’s also partly the truth. There is no real correct way to do this. You simply have to fine-tune and constantly improve your approach every single day. Outside of niche cases like viral marketing efforts, growth comes slowly and steadily. However, you can slow it down even more by impulsive and poor decision-making, so play it.