5 Bad Marketing Practices That Can Hurt Your Business In The Long Run
“ It’s not the best product that wins but the best-known one that wins,” says Jaiden Vu, Founder and CEO of Vantura Cosmetics.
Marketing is a field that requires many skills. You must have the stamina to wait for the right moment to play your next move. And when it works, you’ll see the rewards.
This field involves creativity as well as many strong strategies. That’s why marketers are always looking for more ways to grow their or their client’s business.
In the quest for new ways of growth, you may come across some bad marketing practices. These practices are not good, but they are popular. So I thought it would be a good idea to share these practices with you to avoid them.
Let’s look at 5 of these bad marketing practices that can hurt your business in the long run.
5 Bad Marketing Practices
No one can ignore the importance of marketing for a business. Sometimes, it’s so beneficial that a business solely exists based on marketing.
I’m going to assume that you’re not practicing the following mistakes. Because if you are, you should stop immediately!
Static Marketing
Being complacent is common for humans. Whether it’s our work life, relationships, or health, we become satisfied with things and don’t make change efforts. The same goes for marketing.
If you are currently complacent with your marketing strategies, you are going to fail. I know that’s harsh, but it’s the truth.
People are constantly getting into all fields. I bet your industry is not different. And most of the time, they are going to take a share of already existing businesses. In simple terms, your competitors are trying to bring you down all the time.
So with the changing world, make your strategies up-to-date. Otherwise, your business can be in danger. For example, if you were selling candies to a girl in 2007, keep in mind that she is an adult now!
Keep looking for new social media and technological advancements. At the end of the day, you want your customers to give value.
As Avi Dan, a contributor to Forbes.com, had put it: “In short, marketing is tasked with keeping the company relevant to their customers’ needs. In an age in which the consumer is in charge, approaching marketing from the perspective of products or services alone is not enough to make consumers want to engage.”
Ignoring Mobile Users
I was talking about how marketers don’t keep up-to-date with new trends and technologies. This is one example of that.
Most businesses have websites these days. So I’m going to suppose you have a website. But have you considered people who access from their mobile devices?
Not having a website is better than giving mobile users a bad experience. If they can’t find you on a marketing channel, that’s one thing. But if you are putting them off, they’ll remember that you are a lousy brand. The feeling when you see a cluttered website on a mobile device is horrible.
According to a Google study, 85% of smartphone users look for local information on their phone, and 81% take action to make a purchase or contact the business. These numbers show that how important is it for you to be available for mobile users.
Apart from user experience and revenue growth, mobile optimization is seen as a ranking factor for your website’s SEO on mobile search by Google. So, either work on it yourself or hire an expert from freelancing sites like Upwork or Fiverr to make your website’s design responsive.
Sticking To One Marketing Channel
Each marketing channel has its pros, but if you put all your eggs in one basket, you miss out on a lot of opportunities.
Here’s a staggering stat: For every $1 spent on email marketing, you can make $44 in return. Mind-blowing, right? Does this mean you should stop working on other channels like SEO, social media marketing, etc.? No!
In fact, how do you expect to get those people’s emails whom you are going to target using email marketing? I hope you are not thinking about buying an email list!
You are so focusing on all major marketing channels according to your goals.
Creating Sales-Pitched Content
We’ve all seen a website or ad that says, “Buy my product because I think you should give me your money!” The chances of them getting a good amount of sales are very low.
Never put your product or search engine at first. It’s always the customer. They only care what’s in for them!
If you do marketing to provide value, you’re going in the right direction. But the sales-centric approach is not good.
For example, people want information and education. I’ll ask you. What would you prefer: reading an article or advertisement? You will read the article because it provides value. Although the product featured in the ad might offer more value, people like to be informed.
Take the example of Proctor and Gamble. They do content marketing to promote their products. On the page about their floor cleaning product, they don’t put a big photo of it. Instead, they focus on providing value. They educate people on how to prevent, maintain and clean floors. Some marketers will say that it’s irrelevant and they should go with a sales page. However, this works better for them.
So if you want to become a trustworthy brand, stay away from sales-pitched content and provide value.
Pretending To Listen
Making social media accounts and then not engaging with your customers can do you more harm than good. After all, what’s the purpose of social media if you don’t listen to them.
Engage with your new and existing customers actively. Answer their queries. Take feedback and improve your business.
Never ignore them; It will harm your business.
Do you have some bad marketing practices in mind? Let me know in the comment section below!
