15 Most Common Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

According to an SBI research report, around 71% of marketers are failing to hit revenue targets because of the wrong marketing strategy. This means that there are many marketing mistakes that you will need to escape.

If you aren’t receiving any response from your campaigns, you might be sliding into this unfortunate statistic. A lack of results could be caused by committing one or more of these common marketing mistakes. 

Are you tired of investing hours in producing content only to have it flop after hitting publish? Is the level of interest and engagement in your posts severely underwhelming?

Say goodbye to limping along with ineffective strategies. It’s time to up your marketing game and start seeing results by avoiding these 15 frequent marketing mistakes. 

1. No Clear Target

One of the most common mistakes when setting marketing goals is trying to reach everyone. Even if your product or service could benefit any audience, the lack of direction is actually decreasing overall customers. 

Zone in on your demographic, what they like to see, and where they are. Having a clear image will determine what content to produce when to publish it, and where to post it. 

Get specific about who you want to reach so that you can take up space in that category. You’re better off being a big fish in a little pond than being eaten by sharks in that big old sea.

2. MIA on Social Media

Once you know who your audience is, get active. You can’t expect to make an impression if you’re not present on the platforms your customers are using. 

Posting once in a blue moon on your Facebook page or liking the odd post on Instagram does not count as “active”. This is one of the biggest marketing mistakes. You must be consistently publishing on your key platforms to establish a presence for your brand. 

Social success isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s time to hop on the bus and get social savvy. 

3. Quantity vs. Quality

To produce content, many companies cut corners on this key element. Your customers want to see quality content. Don’t skip out on quality in favor of quantity. 

If you aren’t able to produce high-quality posts regularly, consider outsourcing this task or consulting with professionals who understand what content your audience will respond to. 

Draw new customers in with compelling blogs, posts, and emails rather than boring them and allowing them to tick that unsubscribe box. 

4. Unworthy of Conversation

Online algorithms favor content that is generating buzz. Receiving comments, shares, and bookmarks on your posts increases your relevancy and cues the social media Gods to drop your content into more news feeds. 

The same is true for search engines. More relevant = higher ranking.

If your posts are only focused on business brags or you’re always talking about yourself, your customers don’t feel the need to contribute. Invite communication by tailoring your posts to start conversations. Once people start commenting and joining the discussion, be sure to engage with them as much as possible.

This will make them feel important and grow their attachment to your brand. 

5. Skipping Visuals

Walls of text are boring. They are utterly unappealing and won’t be drawing new traffic anytime soon.

They say “a picture paints a thousand words”, so start including them in your content. There’s no reason to skip out on an interesting visual. It brightens up your content, peaks interest in the subject matter, and takes up more space on a newsfeed.

Do you know what’s better than a photo? A video. 

Videos are taking over the internet and for good reason. 86% of people said they would like to see more video content from businesses in 2020 and two-thirds of the population would prefer to watch a video over reading a post.

6. Recycling Content

Perhaps you aren’t literally reposting your old content, but you might as well be. 

Businesses who post the same general message or content format over and over are boring their audience. Yes, you should practice consistency in branding. No, this doesn’t mean using the same structure over and over.

Mix up your content game. Sprinkle in videos, promotional offers, and conversation starters through your pages and keep it interesting. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel with every post, just keep your messages fresh and entertaining.

7. Over-Offering 

No one wants to engage with a company that is constantly pushing ‘special offers’ down their throat. 

Of course, people love a good deal, but if you are constantly sending out email offers or publishing deal after deal on your pages, customers won’t value these discounts anymore. They either know that more will be coming so they don’t feel a sense of urgency, or they feel like they are being spammed.

Both of these situations don’t contribute to your sales and are more likely to lose return customers. Create balance in your email campaigns and posting strategies with a variety of content instead.

8. Chasing New Customers

Obviously, new customers are essential for scaling and growing your business, but focusing all your efforts on new leads may mean you are neglecting your loyal returnees. 

Start recognizing your customer lifetime value and invest in your customer’s worth.

Related: Useful Information You Should Know About Customer Lifetime Value

Return customers are the key to a positive reputation and reliable sales count. Don’t overlook the audience you already have to build a bigger one. Instead of always focusing your content approach on new shoppers, up to your brand loyalty with posts and articles designed for your existing clientele. 

9. Surface Content

In an effort not to get stuck into too many offers, you may fall into a shallow pool with your content. This will often happen when companies haven’t narrowed down their niche and started digging into their relevant topics more. 

Publishing articles or posts that skim the surface of the concept are unhelpful and irritating. Instead of brushing the top of a subject, get into the deep end and give your viewers something they haven’t discovered yet. 

If you start turning out information that is more helpful than other sources on the net, yours will be the one that gets shared.

10. Lack of Relationships

Today’s internet users are getting more and more selective with who they trust. If you are a voiceless ad that they see during their scroll then they aren’t feeling a connection to your brand.

Start interacting with your audience. Like, comment, reply, and get in touch. Build trust by being there for them, consistently. 

You’ve probably noticed an increase in chatbots and live chat options on successful sites. Consider the benefits of these services for your business. Having a voice ready and willing to help as soon as your customer lands on your page is much like a friendly face when you enter a store. 

11. Time-Ignorance

When you release your content matters. Since you’ve established a target audience, you can zone in on these select customers by reaching them when they are online. 

If you are posting on off-hours, by the time they open their app, your post is as good as gone in the waterfall of content. 

The same concept applies to email marketing. When are your customers opening their emails? If you would like to increase your overseas interest, it’s probably a good idea to consider their time zone and avoid sending out emails while they are asleep. 

12. Mobile Disasters

Welcome to the digital age where hands are growing cellular squares that consume human attention. Today over half of the internet browsing takes place on a mobile device.

57% of your views are coming from those little screens and if your content isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on a massive market.

Perhaps your site is not correctly set up for phones or your media formatting is not supported (oh hello flash users). This is simply not an option in 2020. Start using those mobile view options on your web pages and visit your content on your own device to ensure it’s a quality experience.

13. Anti-SEO Content

“If you build it, they will come”. Well, that’s not the case here. 

Your content needs to be compelling and attention-grabbing, but it also needs to be optimized for those search engines. Google is still a bot after all and it won’t be reading your engaging content. It just needs to pick up enough data to decide where to put you.

If you want customers to be able to find you, you need to appeal to Google’s algorithm and start producing favorable content. Sorry to break it to you, but you can’t dodge this trend. SEO isn’t going anywhere. 

14. Ignoring Analytics

Analytics on your sites and posts are valuable tools when determining what is working and what to change. If you aren’t considering these results, you’re basically blindly posting and hoping for the best.

This is the perfect way to learn what your customers want to see and what is losing their interest. Don’t ignore the numbers, they really are there to help you.

15. Forgetting a CTA

All your content should be wrapped up with a solid call to action.

Having an audience read your post is a great start, but if you aren’t giving them something to do at the end of your post, you will be quickly forgotten. That’s right, they don’t psychically know that you would like them to follow, contact, or “shop now”. 

You need to guide your customers to the desired outcome. Make it easy and quick and drive your sales with intention.

Bye-Bye Marketing Mistakes

With all of these subtle ways to sidestep marketing mistakes, you’ll be acing your strategies and watching those sales margins soar. You’re now prepared to perfect emails, produce quality content, and supercharge your campaign. 

Ready for more tips and tricks for your business marketing? Head over to our articles section to learn everything you need to know when marketing your brand.