If you know professionals who work in the marketing team of a company – regardless of the business size – you’ve probably heard them complain about decisions that were taken by the board and have affected their marketing results significantly. Indeed, even though everybody knows that marketing is more of a science than an art, countless managers and business owners can sometimes forget about it. Whether they choose to cut corners to speed up the process or they refuse to recognize the hard work that goes into the planning and execution of campaigns, their behaviors can reduce the success of the company marketing strategy. And, more to the point, it drives marketers livid with anger. Ultimately, why should a business hire a specialist if they remove all chances to work effectively and successfully? The answer is a combination of lack of knowledge from the decision board, lack of marketing budget, and lack of appreciation for marketing skills.
But, you’d be surprised to know that business owners and corporate decision-makers are not the only ones making these mistakes. Indeed, even as a freelancing Work-At-Home-Mom, you can accidentally find yourself stepping into their misguided footsteps. Thankfully, you can use what marketers say about their work to improve your approach and strategy – and hopefully boost your results. These are the 7 marketing sins of non-marketers that can completely disrupt your independent business journey.
Organization matters
Marketing activities are typically carefully scheduled and planned, whether you’re working on your social media presence or you’re launching a new service. Staying on top of what needs doing, and when it should be done is precisely what campaign scheduling is about. You can’t build a successful marketing strategy is you don’t understand how to organize your business activities. Unfortunately, both WAHMs and SMEs can struggle with devising and respect schedules. Indeed, when you have a lot on your plate, and multiple projects running simultaneously, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lose track of activities. In a small company, this could be the business owner disrupting the marketing team with unplanned work, which can delay previously agreed activities. When you’re your own boss, feeling overwhelmed is natural. It’s the result of running a business by yourself! But, you need to stay organized and follow your activity plan. Syncing your calendar through all devices can help you to tick all business tasks on time.
You can’t afford DIY on customer-facing platforms
There are plenty of intuitive platforms that let you build your website in a matter of clicks. While many solo entrepreneurs are tempted to access the site code and make the necessary amendments to suit their vision – nowadays, you can find anything on Google, including lines of code to copy-paste in place – it’s something you should leave to professionals. Indeed, editing your site javascript without the relevant knowledge can not only corrupt some of the site functions but also affect page load, speed, navigation, and overall layout. Don’t be fooled by self-proclaimed code experts who share their tips on a blog. Not everything you see online is the truth. Instead, if you want to use the top javascript frameworks to add marketing functions to the site, such as data capture within different site frames, you have to hire a specialist. Too many companies assume that marketers have coding skills because the traditional data tools require the addition of code to the site. Don’t make the same mistake.
You can never guess
Marketers use tools like web analytics for a reason: They need to capture relevant data to make the right decisions. As a result, web analytics such as Google Analytics provide valuable information about the way visitors interact with your site. Additionally, you can also make the most of in-tool functions, such as running experiments to figure out which page design is more successful or improve your conversion process. Running UX experiments can be a long process, but it is necessary to take a data-centric decision. If you don’t, you are likely to make assumptions instead of reading patterns. You can’t build a strategy on assumptions.
Your audience values authenticity
Your content lets you engage with your audience. But your audience doesn’t want corporate-sounding content. They crave for authenticity. Authenticity is not about listing your professional background history, but it’s a matter of using your experience as the backbone of your articles. When you write about what you know, you create informative and engaging content. Don’t feel forced to mention the latest trends because everybody does. Do your thing, instead.
You don’t choose keywords, your audience does
Ah, keywords! You can’t write anything online without knowing about keywords. Unfortunately, for a lot of businesses, keyword tools are used to track the ranking of their previously decided keywords. But when it comes to finding new terms, small decision boards still assume they are in charge. They choose a keyword and expect the marketing team to make it work. In reality, your audience is in the driving seat. Use keyword tools to identify the trending search terms that are the most relevant to your activities, and then write about them.
Your selfie is more powerful than you think
If you’re an introvert, you may not feel too comfortable at the idea of sharing a selfie. In B2B companies, selfies are often avoided in marketing communication. The business owner expects a corporate and professional attitude, which goes against the reputation of selfies. However, showing behind the scenes images is a crucial step in your business growth. Your audience wants to know more about your company, and more importantly, about who hides behind it. It gives your business a personality they can relate to.
You should never work isolated from others
Last but not least, nobody succeeds in a solitary environment. The business world is a world of networking, whether you run an international company or you’ve launched your freelancing side hustle. Meeting like-minded people can help you to find new clients, partners, providers, and build a supportive community.
When you work for yourself, you can’t afford to waste time and effort on costly marketing mistakes. Nobody expects you to become an expert overnight. However, you should make sure that you understand how to support your marketing efforts. Whether you outsource significant activities is irrelevant. What matters is that you take all the steps to give your marketing activities a chance to shine.