5 Signs your Marketing is holding you back
Marketing is an interesting beast. Unlike many aspects of business, it isn’t a case of the greater the spend, the more effective the job. In today’s world of digital marketing, a little money spent can go a long way. Marketing is changing, and, especially when things are going well, sometimes it can be difficult to tell how effective a business’s marketing is.
So how can you tell whether your marketing is not being as effective as it could be? Here are a five signs that your marketing is holding back your business:
1. Is There a Big Difference between Customer Interest and Sales?
If your website or social media are getting a lot of interest and traffic, but this isn’t converting into sales there is something wrong. This may be that the marketing isn’t giving the right message about the business or product and it could be that people are being misled about the product or service which is being offered.
If the marketing isn’t converting into profitable sales, it’s not worth doing. It is worth ensuring that what you’re doing properly portrays the business, product or service in a true manner and that when people show an interest, the sale is made. This can be achieved by making it as simple as possible to make a purchase once interest is shown or a potential customer is engaged.
2. Do You Know Where Your Customers Are Coming From?
The beauty of digital marketing is that it gives businesses a lot of information about their customers. Information can be supplied through social media about who customers are, where they are, when they are online, and customer’s interests amongst other things.
Whilst things are going well, this information can often be overlooked, but is highly valuable for future marketing efforts. The information provided about where customers are coming from can be used for direct marketing, and tailor made campaigns. It also allows businesses to concentrate on the things that they know work, and discard what doesn’t.
3. How Much Repeat Business or Referrals are you getting?
The sign of any good business is one where existing customers keep returning. This shows that they are happy with the product or service, so much so that they come back. Referrals are also testament to a good business, perhaps even more than returning customers as it shows that people were so impressed that they recommended it to others. Great marketing isn’t just about acquiring new customers, it is about keeping existing customers engaged and informed so that they return. It is, after all much easier to have customers coming back than to be continually looking for new ones.
4. Do You Have Just One Main Client?
A lot of companies have one main client who takes up the majority of their work. Whilst this in the short term is great for businesses, it can be a disaster if something happens with the client, or contracts get pulled. Good marketers will be fully aware of this and therefore continually trying to build the business and get new clients, cutting the risk of disaster should the worst happen.
5. Have You Stopped Growing?
There are times when businesses stop growing. This is usually two or three years in and is a normal effect after the initial flurry and excitement. This is when it is time to really concentrate on marketing and engage with your customers. You will probably already have a customer base, and now it’s time to forge better relationships with them and look into finding new ones.
Is your marketing holding you back?
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