For many companies, marketing that drives leads and conversions can feel as imperative to success as focuses like products and pricing. After all, even the best products aren’t going to sell if no one’s looking your way.
Unfortunately, while marketing is a crucial area of investment for business growth, countless companies find that the money they’re putting in here somehow doesn’t add up to returns on investment (ROI). Unchecked, this can lead to escalating marketing budgets that eat into, rather than enhancing, company profitability. Over time, that alone could lead to the complete closure of a business that simply isn’t viable. Hence why, if your marketing budget is running on less than empty right now, you might want to consider whether the following fatal mistakes could be to blame.
# 1 – Failing to make marketing accessible
Just as your products will go to waste if marketing doesn’t draw attention, marketing that falls under the radar is always going to let you down. Hence why you need to ensure that your marketing is not only accessible but that it’s accessible to the right people. As highlighted by industry frontrunners like Jerome Clavel, achieving this accessibility in the modern age is especially dependent on digital marketing, but putting your efforts online doesn’t automatically ensure results. Instead, it’s vital to utilize techniques including keywords, hashtags, and SEO, all of which make it far more likely that the right leads see what you’re doing and respond with much-needed sales.
# 2 – Throwing money at the problem
The more money you spend on marketing in the first place, the less likely you are to see worthwhile returns in the long run. Regardless, businesses too often pile huge amounts of money into things like pay-per-click campaigns, influencer marketing, etc. in the assumption that they’ll make that cashback and some. In reality, though, marketing is as uncertain as any other investment, making moves like these a gamble that rarely pays off. Instead, it’s important to remember that recommendations advise sticking to a budget of no more than 7-8% of monthly profits for this purpose, making returns far easier to achieve. What’s more, making use of free marketing outlets like blog posts and social media profiles over expensive marketing options for the moment can help to build momentum and ultimately higher profitability.
# 3 – Failing to follow up on leads
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Too often, companies assume that marketing will work its own magic once it’s out in the world, but that’s rarely the case. Instead, marketing is the ‘look-at-me’ angle of sales that needs to stretch far further than initial interest to succeed. Following up on leads via personalized email and retargeted ads can especially add fuel to the more expensive efforts that you’ve put in here. And, if you track those extra efforts, you should soon see that marketing profitability starts rolling the way it’s been struggling to do until now.
Marketing matters, but many would argue that ROI matters more. Make sure you’re taking care of both by avoiding these mistakes at all costs.