Mapping Out the Most Common Digital Marketing Flubs of Small Enterprises

Introduction

If you’re running a small business, digital marketing can seem like an overwhelming task. There’s so much to learn about it, and it’s always changing. But there are some tried-and-true mistakes that are common among most businesses. The good news is that once you know what these mistakes are and how to avoid them, your chances of success increase dramatically. Here are the most common flubs I see in small enterprises when they try to market their products online.

Not enough traffic

If you’re a small business owner, it’s possible that you haven’t done enough research to understand what your audience wants. The best way to make sure that your website strategy is on the right track is to do some in-depth research into what search engines and social media sites are looking for when they rank content. You also need to understand how paid advertising works online so that you can effectively target an audience through ads or email marketing campaigns—or even both!

The bottom line: If you don’t know where people go online (and why), then it’s going to be hard for them to find your company or product in the first place.

A lack of branding

What’s the main message you want to convey about your business? A lack of branding is one of the most common digital marketing mistakes small enterprises make. Branding helps you stand out from your competitors, attract new customers, and connect with existing ones.

For example, when a potential customer searches for information on how to manage their website analytics, they’ll likely see results from companies like Google or HubSpot in the top ten results. But if they’re looking for advice and resources on managing their website analytics using WordPress specifically (or another CMS), then it makes sense for them to search for “wordpress analytics” or “wordpress website statistics”.

When a company doesn’t have a clear brand identity—or worse yet, if all its social media accounts are using different logos and colors—it can be hard for people searching online to find them!

Not enough leads

You can’t simply expect to generate traffic and generate business. You need leads. Leads are the bread and butter of any small enterprise, regardless of its size or industry. The problem is that not enough small businesses are converting these leads into actual customers because they’re not getting enough of them in the first place!

The solution? Start by making sure you have a clear understanding of what a lead actually is and how it works within your business model. Then, start generating more leads—but make sure you qualify them properly so that only qualified people get through to your sales team. Once someone has expressed interest in what you have to offer, close them! If a lead isn’t ready for purchase yet then try adding value by offering a discount code or some other incentive until they’re ready next time around!

Bounce rates are high

When you visit a website, and then leave that same page without taking any further action (bouncing), it’s known as a bounce rate.

The higher your bounce rate is, the more people leave your website without doing anything—which means they didn’t buy anything or submit their email address to you.

While bounce rates aren’t necessarily bad, they do show how many visitors are engaged with your site in some way. If your bounces are low (like 1-3%), that’s great! You can use this data to improve the overall quality of each experience on the site for future users. But if your bounces are high (20%+) it could mean that something isn’t working well enough for users who come across it: either they aren’t finding what they need quickly enough or there’s an opportunity for improvement in terms of site design and navigation.”

Your design looks unprofessional

It’s easy to overlook the importance of design in a digital marketing campaign. After all, your content is what matters most. But if that content is poorly designed and difficult to read, it won’t be effective. If you’re going to spend time and money on content marketing, then make sure you have a professional designer who can help you create great-looking designs that will drive more sales or leads for your business.

Here are some things to look for in a designer:

• Check out their portfolio – Does the work they’ve done look like something that would fit with the style of your business? Do they specialize in designing websites? Are their designs simple or complex?
• Ask about their experience – How long has the designer been working as one (or how much experience does he/she have)? What software tools do they use? How often do they get feedback from clients?

Your website is not mobile-friendly

It’s a no-brainer: your website should be mobile-friendly. Mobile devices are quickly becoming the preferred method of accessing the internet, so if you want to be seen by potential customers on their phones and tablets, you need to make sure that your site is optimized for those devices.

Here’s why:

• Mobile-friendly websites offer a better user experience. People are more likely to spend time on mobile sites if they’re easy to navigate and understand, since they can’t easily thumb through content at their leisure as they might when browsing on their desktops or laptops.
• They’re easier to use and navigate—and less likely to frustrate visitors with clunky navigation schemes or poor usability (e.g., buttons that don’t work).

Not enough quality content on your site

• Quality content is a key part of any digital marketing strategy.
• You can produce content in the form of blog posts, white papers, ebooks and more.
• The best types of content are those that do one or all of the following: provide value to your audience (they aren’t just fluffy fluff pieces), are easy to read and digest, use original language and unique ideas (don’t just copy what other people have written).

Freshness of content is poor

This is a mistake that can be easily avoided by paying attention to the content on your website and making sure it’s up to date.

Content needs to be fresh, otherwise people will lose interest in reading it. If you’re not updating your site regularly, visitors might feel like they’re wasting their time, especially if they find themselves on a page with outdated information (or no information at all). On the other hand, if you update too often—for example, multiple times per day or even more frequently—people may think that your brand is spammy and move along without looking into what else you have to offer them

You’re not providing value to your audience

You have to provide value to your audience, and not just in the form of information. Your content should give them something they can use, share with friends or take action on. For example, if you’re a marketing agency that specializes in lead generation and sales acceleration for B2B companies, then your target audience might be small business owners. When creating content for this group it should focus on topics such as how to improve their website SEO ranking or how to generate more leads at trade shows.

Not getting the most out of all your channels

It’s easy to let a specific channel take precedence over the others. You may have found success with one, and decide that all your efforts should go into that channel alone. But if you’re not using a number of different channels effectively, you might be missing out on opportunities for growth.

Sure, it’s great when one particular platform is driving an abundance of leads and sales into your business—but what happens if that channel stops working? Will you still have other channels in place to fill the gap? And even if your current strategy does work well for now, are there other platforms that could be more effective for you down the road?

All too often companies focus exclusively on their strongest communications channel—for example, social media—because they feel like they don’t have time or resources to explore new areas or improve upon existing ones. This is shortsighted thinking: there’s no such thing as “too many” marketing channels!

You’re not working with a team that has the right expertise to help you succeed

But it’s equally important to work with a team that has the right expertise, so that you can avoid common digital marketing flubs. Why? Because many small businesses don’t realize what they don’t know about digital marketing and how it works together with their marketing strategy. It’s important to understand this, because then you’ll know how much help your business needs from experts.

This is where I come in: I’m an expert in SEO and content writing (among other things) and can help make sure your business succeeds online!

If you understand the most common mistakes, you can greatly increase your chances of success.

If you understand the most common mistakes, you can greatly increase your chances of success.

The key to avoiding these mistakes is to learn from others and avoid making the same mistakes yourself.

There are many ways that small businesses make digital marketing errors, but there are also ways that they can fix them and improve their online presence in general.

Conclusion

The key to success in digital marketing is to avoid these mistakes. If you understand what most small businesses are doing wrong, it’s easier to avoid them yourself and set yourself up for success. Remember that all of these issues can be fixed with a little hard work and knowledge—but if you don’t take action now, then your competitors will beat you to it!