Signs That Your Marketing Strategy Needs Work
With a successful marketing strategy, a business should expect to see a steady flow of new and repeat consumers. Additionally, effective marketing will result in financial return on the money invested in the business’s marketing efforts, and an overall increase in revenue, web traffic, and consumer engagement. When a marketing strategy is lacking, however, the signs of its poor performance will become apparent pretty quickly. Keep reading for more:
1. Your Sales Have Been Steadily Declining
One of the first, and most obvious, indicators that your marketing efforts may be lacking results can be found in your metrics. If you were seeing high or moderate sales at one point and have since noticed a continued trend of declining sales and profit, this can be an early indicator that your marketing strategy is no longer working.
There’s a lot of elements that factor into how, when, and where people spend their money at any given time. So, you shouldn’t immediately go into panic mode at the first sign of a slight dip in sales. Stop and think about why you may be seeing that decline and if it’s really something going on with your strategy. It could just be due to a lack of necessity for your products or services at the moment. An example of this would be if you owned a store that exclusively sells winter apparel or ski supplies and you’re now seeing less sales after the winter season. People aren’t exactly going to be buying puffer coats and winter beanies in the summer heat. A reduction in sales in this case is a given. If you’re products and services are seasonally focused and you’re losing sales after a certain part of the year, consider implementing more diversity in what you offer. Going back to the winter apparel example – if you’re solely selling for cold weather, look into expanding your selection and adding products that are summer-friendly.
2. Your Content Isn't Reaching Your Target Audience
Making sales is great no matter who is buying. However, if you’re noticing a pattern where you’re not seeing as many of your intended audience shopping your brand, it’s likely because your marketing tactics aren’t targeting the right audience.
The way a marketing campaign works is that it’s focused on catering to specific groups of people that would be most likely to buy your products (aka the target audience). If you’re strategy doesn’t involve ways to reach out to that audience, you might as well being throwing a message in a bottle out to sea expecting the right people will find it. Then what happens? You end up spending a fortune on bottles, casting as many into the ocean as you can in hopes of getting a response. Translation: You’ll spend way more money on a marketing strategy with no direction or focus and you’ll receive very little in return. Narrow down your target audience and find ways to engage with them, it saves so much time, money, and hassle if you just know who you’re trying to sell to.
3. You're Getting More Negative Feedback Than Positive
When you check your business on review sites like Yelp, what are you seeing for feedback? Sure, every business is bound to have a couple of bad reviews, but if you’re seeing a lot of negative feedback and less positive comments on your brand, it’s likely that something is going wrong not only in your business, but also your marketing strategy.
An overwhelming number of negative reviews for your business can spell trouble, fast! Since people usually research products and services online prior to making a purchase, that negative feedback is going to have an effect on their decision to shop with you. If you’re looking for a specific service and you see a substantial amount of negative reviews for a local business providing those services, would you want to use them still? Look over your customer complaints and check for patterns – it could be something as simple as poor customer service that could be hurting your sales.
4. Your Consumer Base Is Lacking
For a new business just starting out, having a small customer base in the beginning is normal. If your company has been around for a bit, and had time to implement a marketing strategy, but you’re still not seeing even the bare minimum number of customers you should be seeing, it could indicate your strategy needs improvement.
While there are a lot of reasons this can happen, it often just comes down to a lack of visibility. Meaning that you may not be getting as many customers because they can’t find you. Make sure you optimize your website for Google search so that your business site doesn’t end up getting lost in the back pages of the search engine. Additionally, create a free Google business profile so that customers can easily find you when they look up businesses like yours in the area you’re located.
5. The Money You're Investing in your Marketing Strategy Isn't Being Made Back in Sales
Every time you implement a new element into your marketing strategy, there’s an estimated ROI that’s expected to supplement the money you spent. Now, if you’re putting all this money into marketing and not seeing a single penny of it back in sales, it’s a sign that something’s off with your strategy.
Make sure you’re implementing all available tools for marketing you brand, such as social media business pages and an SEO-friendly business blog for your website. There are also plenty of ways you can market on a budget so you’re not spending a small fortune trying to get your brand out there.
6. Your Social Media Pages See Little Traffic
Social media pages are big right now for marketing businesses. So many companies have turned to these networking platforms to promote new products and release creative content to up consumer engagement. If social media analytics are showing a lack of user engagement on your business pages, it’s likely an indicator that you’re not providing the right content for the right people on your pages.
Reevaluate what you’re posting – and if you still think it’s the right content for your target audience, try posting more often or utilize advertising tools offered by the platforms you’re using. Additionally, make sure you’re posting content that encourages consumer engagement.
7. Your Current Marketing Strategy Makes You Feel Overwhelmed
Burnout is something that can happen in any aspect of life, but especially in cases where you’re running a business and trying to manage a stressful marketing strategy on your own. When fatigue like that kicks in, it’s bound to impact your business’s performance and your marketing strategy. If you’re exhausted, your marketing is going to look exhausted, uninspired, and lack the enthusiasm needed to get consumer attention.
When burnout occurs in marketing, it’s time to seek help from professionals that can work with you to develop a sound marketing strategy. Don’t give up on promoting your business and attaining your marketing goals simply because you’re tired. Instead, give Olive Group a call and schedule a free marketing meeting with us. We’re always here to help and we know what it takes to market businesses of all sizes.