While quality products and stellar services help differentiate good brands from businesses that still need a bit of tweaking, there’s no denying that we can all thank the marketing function for making the business world go round. And whether you’re working with emerging tech and blockchains or selling brand-new Nissan cars, advertising and spreading your brand’s message while improving its image among the public is becoming increasingly irreplaceable in many industries, especially the rapidly growing digital space.
However, when we take it a few notches down and see how well the same marketing strategies are fair within small businesses and new startups, we notice significant discrepancies in both efficiency and overall effectiveness. And while some would chalk up these shortfalls to a difference in experience or a lack of invested working hours, it’s a lack of fundamental knowledge in getting the most out of appropriate marketing channels.
For Starters, Here’s What Could Be Holding You Back
Marketing is multi-faceted by nature, and we could spend the entire day talking about overreaching concepts and theories without making a dent in the grand scheme of things, barely scratching the tip of the iceberg. So, for the sake of simplicity, we’ll be going over the three most common issues that could easily overlap with problems of varying specificity, namely (1) not knowing your customers, (2) analyzing an arduous amount of data, and (3) scarce technological capacities.
- Not Knowing Your Target Audience Well Enough: Although marketing encompasses the need to analyze trends and understand the impacts of external factors, at its core, everything boils down to knowing your customer to improve delivery. As a result, simply sharing features and interesting content that promotes your product won’t do your company any good if it fails to jive with your target audience. So, make an effort to understand your industry and align your marketing strategy according to demand.
- Information Overload And Analysis Paralysis: Also associated with getting to know your target audience better is the problem of bearing information overload onto your marketing team and causing analysis paralysis. The end goal is to improve the overall customer experience by highlighting features that engage your target audience the most. Still, there comes the point when you’re cramming too much information. Therefore, you must choose the most relevant factors instead of putting everything through the funnel.
- Lack Of Technology To Track Customer Metrics: Sometimes, it’s not a matter of practice, theory, or experience that’s holding you back but the lack of technology to track customer metrics effectively. You see, it’s only natural for small businesses and new startups to have respectable systems that reflect their financial strongarm, meaning that it’s just decent and gets the bare minimum done. And while that may fair well in some scenarios, it’s not helpful for scalability.
Instead Of Covering As Much Ground, Focus Your Efforts
A common misconception when discussing marketing strategies among new businesses is that covering as much ground and fanning the flames of hype as possible is the best way to get started and snowball plans. However, we firmly believe that focusing your efforts is a much smarter and safer way of getting things done because a slow burn keeps those leads warm and your opportunities sizzling.
- Keep Things Simple With One Social Profile: We know how tempting it can be to immediately jump onto Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to create social profiles that will build your online presence, but that’s just too much work when first starting out. You end up spreading yourself too thin, and your potential customers won’t know where to go no matter how hard you try. Therefore, we suggest sticking with one social profile as you build your website, slowly expanding onto new platforms with the help of AdSense and diverse marketing tactics.
- Partner With Like-Minded Businesses: Although you could theoretically run the business solo or work with a small team, in the beginning, you should start looking into partnership prospects that can help expand your reach. There are numerous success stories out there, and you could learn so much relevant knowledge and information from visual-forward millennial brands like Otherland. And with the right leadership, you could be working with a long-term, sustainable business network that globalizes your brand image.
- Stay On Top Of Current Trends And Demands: Last but not least, we can’t mention the word “focus” without staying on top of current trends and demands in your market niche. It can save you a lot of resources and point you in the positive direction, knowing what clicks with customers, which will make your marketing strategies more effective. Plus, it helps with engagement and relevance scores when you’re working with trending buzz words.
Get Off The Ground With A Smart Marketing Strategy
No business starts perfect, but if you want to get off the ground running and maintain a good pace to reach your goals, starting with a smart marketing strategy can lay the foundation for future success. So, before you dive deeper into product development and improving core operations, be sure to pay close attention to market research and advertising as well.
