Marketing can be a risky game that can push your business under if not strategically executed. Many small business owners end up making the same mistakes the others have before them. Today we are going to warn you of the top mishaps that business owners make when it comes to marketing, so you can avoid ever having these problems.
Not Having A Marketing Budget
Avoid this big mistake that most new business owners commit. You should have a budget set out for your daily, monthly and yearly marketing plans. You don’t just want to spend money when you think you have some extra this month.
Take the time to plan a specific percentage of your profits to go towards marketing efforts. Have that number clearly laid out so that you don’t get confused later down the road. Remember that you can always adjust your marketing budget depending on the results you get. But, you first need to know what you are spending in the first place.
Avoid Shot In The Dark Marketing Efforts
Throwing out a bunch of money at some random marketing efforts that you are unable to trace doesn’t do you any good. It’s likely that you will have multiple marketing campaigns going on at the same time.
You need campaigns that are traceable so you can see how each one affected your business. If you have four different campaigns that are not traceable, you’re going to have to either keep running all four campaigns or eliminate one at a time and see the changes that result. That can take a while.
Save yourself some time in the future and make sure every form of marketing you do has a way to trace its success or lack thereof for your business. Shooting in the dark at which campaigns are working and which ones aren’t is going to waste a lot of your time and effort.
Not Actually Tracing The Campaign
Some business owners will put in the effort to use marketing campaigns that they can easily trace. The problem is that many don’t return to trace them. They might as well not have even spent the effort on the marketing campaigns in the first place.
Yes, it can be a lot of work going over the numbers to see how each campaign is doing for your goals surrounding it. However, realize that the traceable marketing campaigns are your best friend.
The can help you identify the best campaigns that are increasing your revenue or customer base. This will allow you to invest more of your marketing budget in campaigns that you know will bring a return on your investment. If you don’t want to do the work yourself you can hire inbound marketing services to help you.
Not Knowing Your Target Audience
It makes sense that if most of your customers were male, that you would target males with your marketing efforts. The problem is that many business owners forget the simple concept of targeted audiences.
Many small business owners will be so worried about getting their message out to everyone that will listen, they just end up spending a ton of money on a general audience that isn’t bringing them the return they wanted. You need to be specific with your marketing efforts.
Analyze your current customer base to see what their attributes are. What is their age, sex, income, education, and other specifics? When you are able to answer these questions, you know what your target market is. Spend your marketing budget on trying to bring in more of these customers and you’ll notice a great return on your efforts.
Raymond Bilger 
Daryl Green