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Could your marketing be outdated, ineffective, or even harmful? Forbes.com columnist John Rampton recently featured several signs to watch for to know if your marketing is falling flat, including:
1. You’re ignoring inbound marketing.
It’s not just about the advertisements in magazines or online. Inbound marketing focuses on providing customers with valuable content, instead of pushing out a specific message. “Inbound marketing has been proven to be far more effective than traditional advertising,” Rampton writes.
2. You’re using social media just because …
If you’re using social media just because you think you are supposed to, you likely aren’t seeing much benefit. Create a strategy beyond gathering followers. Use it to promote your content, build a community, and address any customer concerns or questions, Rampton writes. That said, don’t use social media to just push your agenda or promote your listings or blog posts; use it to engage.
3. You fail to update your blog regularly.
You don’t need to contribute a new blog post every day but you should be blogging about one to three times a week, Rampton notes. If you’re posting less than a month, you need to revisit why you even have a blog because you’re not likely generating much traffic from it to make it worth it.
4. You have not looked at your analytics in months.
Everything in your marketing should be data-driven, Rampton stresses. Don’t repeat the same mistakes over again by not looking at your analytics. Carefully evaluate what your data is telling you about you audience and about their likes and dislikes. Check your website, email, and social media analytics at least once a week, Rampton says.
5. You don’t segment your audience.
If you’re trying to target everyone, you are likely really targeting no one. Figure out who your ideal client is. Focus on attracting those consumers with your marketing. “Otherwise, you’ll be wasting a lot of time and money on people who will never buy from you anyway,” Rampton says.
6. You do not ranking high in the search engines.
If your business name or your name isn’t in the first few spots of the Google search rankings, you have a problem. If your competitors all outrank you, you have a big problem. Focus more on mastering SEO to get higher in the search rankings. This likely will mean more content building. Read: 6 Weeks to Better SEO or 3 SEO Trends to Make You More Findable Online
7. You create lots of content but little traction.
Seventy-five percent of content gets zero links, and 50 percent gets two or less Facebook interactions, according to the site Moz. Get others to read your content. Rampton suggests a three-step plan: Research topics and issues your audience cares most about to use as the basis of your content; write high-quality and 1,200-plus word articles about those issues; and have a plan to promote your content via email and social media.
Source: “15 Signs You Need to Be Better at Marketing,” Forbes.com (Feb. 4, 2017)
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