Digital Marketing Mistakes Small Business Owners Make (and How to Fix Them)
The world of digital marketing can be difficult for small business owners. You’re constantly trying to balance sales, customer relations, and team member satisfaction among the various digital marketing needs that your business requires to be successful.
Unfortunately, when you’re trying to juggle too many of these things at once, mistakes can happen, which may harm your company’s brand, your hard-earned reputation, and ultimately, your bottom line.
At Creekmore Marketing, we’ve helped small businesses achieve their digital marketing goals. Today, we’re excited to share some common digital mistakes we’ve seen over the years and how to fix them!
You Don’t Have a Clear Digital Marketing Strategy
One of the most common digital marketing mistakes we see is that small businesses simply don’t have a clear strategy for their digital marketing. Rather than having a defined set of goals, some business owners tend to throw the kitchen sink at their digital marketing efforts.
And, as we all know, kitchen sinks run the risk of overflowing if they’re not properly managed.
Rather than wasting efforts chasing undefined KPIs, it’s important that you sit down and map out the goals that are important to you and your business. Whether you’re just starting out or are revamping your marketing efforts, a few clear goals you could focus on are:
- Increasing organic keyword growth by 15% in the next 6 months
- Getting 5 new Google reviews in the next 45 days
- Improving social media presence on all channels by 25%
You’re Ignoring Your SEO Efforts
One of the most important areas of digital marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), allows you to organically rank on search engines like Google, Bing, etc. This makes it possible for your customers to find your website using popular, relevant keywords.
Some small businesses either don’t have a fully formed SEO strategy or ignore it completely. This can cause your website to get fewer leads and potential customers finding your competition.
If you’re struggling with your SEO efforts, some simple solutions can be to:
- Create keyword-optimized product and service pages
- Develop a content calendar around popular, seasonal topics your customers are searching for
- Target high-value keywords in your blog strategy
- Improve page speed
- Having a strong interlinking strategy
You’re Making Content Marketing Mistakes
Optimized content is still key to making conversions and driving business. Content such as blog posts, product and service pages, and even social media posts, can make or break your digital presence if the right approach isn’t taken.
Mistakes such as overlooking your target customers’ needs and questions, ignoring best SEO practices, and creating surface-level content can not only harm your rankings with Google but can also bring into question your credibility with your audience. When creating content for your website, several factors to keep in mind are:
- Having a consistent publishing schedule
- Optimize your content for SEO, GEO, and AIO
- Write for your audience, not search engines
- Create helpful content that serves a purpose
You’re Not Tracking Performance
Tracking the performance of your website and digital campaigns is crucial to ensuring that you’re not only performing well, but also identifying areas where you can improve. Without looking at the data, you could be making decisions based on incorrect assumptions, leading to wasted money and time. If you’re looking to start tracking your performance, some ways to start are with:
- Google Analytics: Helps you understand how people find your site, user behavior, and conversions
- Google Search Console: Shows how your site appears in Google search results, the most effective keywords, and technical issues that can affect performance
- Conversion tracking: Measures form submissions, phone calls, and purchases
- Monthly KPI dashboards: Offers a detailed snapshot of important metrics such as page views, site traffic, and more
You Don’t Know How to Advertise Your Business
Getting your products and services in front of the right audience is crucial for your business to succeed. However, while many companies may have the right idea in wanting to advertise their business, knowing the correct steps to take can pose a real challenge.
Small businesses can find their ads not converting, customers not finding their site, and potential leads going nowhere. If you’re not sure where to begin, a few ways you can start are by:
- Understanding what digital marketing tools are available
- Determine Your Goals
- Set a Budget
- Monitor Your Update and Strategy Over Time
You’re Working with the Wrong Small Business Marketing Agency
At Creekmore Marketing, we’ve been helping small businesses get on track and stay on track with their digital marketing goals for over a decade. We’re the premier small business marketing agency near Lexington, KY, and our dedicated team of marketing professionals can help your business from making these common digital marketing mistakes.
Contact us today to learn how we can serve your business needs. Based in Lexington, KY, we serve the United States and Canada.
