Have you recently discovered that your marketing campaign is not providing the results that you want? If that’s the case, then you need to make sure that you are taking the correct steps to fix the issue. There could be multiple reasons why a marketing campaign might fail. By exploring the common causes you can get your business back on track with a campaign that does deliver the results that you need.
The Cookie Cutter Approach
If you decide to invest in the services of a professional marketing team, then you do need to make sure that they are delivering something more than a cookie cutter service. What does this mean? For a marketing campaign to be successful it needs to match the requirements and individual situation of a specific company. We can explore this concept with the idea of on-page marketing.
On-page marketing is based on adapting your site and the key parts of it to ensure that it is optimized to rank online. However, it’s important to note the measures you’ll need to take here are always going to depend on the starting point. For instance, it’s possible that your site already has the right structure. However, some sites won’t and it will be important to correct this issue. Without a solid website structure, customers are going to struggle to find what they are searching for from your business.
There are various signs that a business is providing a cookie cutter solution. For instance, you need to think about the cost of SEO. The cost is going to differ depending on the quality of the solution. A marketer should always ask to see your site before they quote you a price. If they don’t explore your brand, then you should always expect nothing more than a cookie cutter solution from a marketer.
At the same time, you can’t assume that the most expensive service will be best. This won’t always be the case. You can find great services online that provide incredible value to clients.
Old Techniques
It’s important to be aware that there are numerous marketing techniques that used to be effective but no longer work for any business. For instance, one example is keyword stuffing. This was stomped out years ago, but it’s still used by businesses to this day and then they wonder why their campaign isn’t working. Ideally, the level of keywords should be less than 2% of the total content and must fit in naturally. This means that you can’t constantly repeat regional keywords for local SEO content, as one example.
There are lots of other techniques that are also no longer relevant and should be avoided like the plague. For instance, a lot of marketers are still pushing to add as much content to a website as possible. This did use to be effective however these days, it’s better to have quality content. It should be detailed, provided rich context, and fit in with the rest of the site. If you don’t hit these targets then Google can determine that the content does not deliver the necessary value to your reader base. This can hit your ranking hard.
Marketing across all social media networks is also going to be a key mistake for most businesses. The reason for this is that you probably don’t have the resources or the budget to focus on all the different social networks effectively. You might think there are only three or four social networks. However, this is not the case. These days there are countless social networks and you won’t be able to focus on them all at once. Instead, you need to make sure that you are running analytics to find out which social network your target audience is likely to use.
Landing pages should also be used sparingly in 2020. It was common before for business websites to be filled with landing pages and for content to be essentially locked behind them. This was a good way to collect data for your website and potentially build leads. However, customers have grown more impatient. They don’t want to go through landing pages. Instead, they are far more interested in getting the answers and the results they need immediately. As such, your bounce rate is likely to be far lower if you make sure that you are getting straight to the punch. As for landing pages, they can still be part of your site, but they need to fit in the right way, just like how you use keywords.
The Right Amount
Next, it’s important to consider how much you should be paying for your marketing. If you are running a small business, it will be important that you take steps to save in your business model wherever you can. This could include your marketing. However, you can’t cut your marketing budget down too much. If you do this, then it will never provide the results that you want. Ideally, you should be aiming to spend about 20% of your total budget on marketing and this should be constant.
Many people think that they can get away with a firm marketing push at the beginning and then let it taper off. In reality, you should be boosting your marketing each week. An example of why the marketing push needs to be constant can be found with content. You need to make sure that you are adding new content to your site regularly. This is going to help boost your SEO and ensure that you do get the attention that you want online.
You Need To Improve Your Design
We have already mentioned on page SEO as well as the importance of your website structure. But what about the design of your website? Specifically, we’re thinking about the way your website looks rather than how user friendly it is. There are a few ways that you can explore to improve the design of the site. First, you might want to think about hiring a web designer rather than completing this step yourself. While it’s possible to DIY, a web designer will always provide better results. They will guarantee that your site looks incredible and does impress users. Remember, the right design can guarantee that users decide to stick around and potentially make a purchase.
Something to keep in mind here is how dynamic and interesting or engaging your site is. You can make your site more interesting by ensuring that it is dynamic. One of the best ways to do this would be by adding a video to the landing page or main page of your site. A video is a great way to introduce customers to the services and solutions that you provide. This could even be a welcome video from you directly to your customers. Polls suggest that customers appreciate this type of marketing a great deal. Remember, customers, are more likely to click on a website if they see a picture of the owner. As such, there’s definitely evidence that they want a more personalized approach from your company.
There are free web design templates online that are accessible to every business owner. However, it’s important to note that these may not be as beneficial as the same. The issue with using templates is that they can make your business website look the same as all the others online. Instead, you need to take the right steps to ensure that it does stand out on the market.
Bad Reviews
Finally, you should consider the issue and the impact of bad reviews. These can have ripple effects for your company. Research shows that about 80% of customers will check reviews before they even think about buying a product or service from your business online. As such, you do need to deal with any negative reviews that might crop up for your company. Negative reviews can be triggered by a wide range of problems. For instance, through the festive period, a lot of consumers express their dismay at slow deliveries and slow turnarounds for a service or product.
You can not ignore bad reviews. Instead, you must ensure that you tackle them head on. It’s important that you respond to them within the public space and that you do try to guarantee that customers feel as though that they are being heard.
Be aware that negative reviews can be posted directly to social media and it could be the reason why you have such a low level of interest from customers. If customers search your company on social media and find a bad buzz around your brand, they will think twice about buying from you.
We hope this helps you understand some of the common reasons why your marketing campaign might be struggling and what you will be able to do about it. From changing your marketing agency to rethinking your approach, there’s a lot of choices to consider here. With the right steps, you will be able to address all the problems and guarantee that your marketing does deliver the ROI you want.