Entrepreneurship is not easy, especially when it comes to making a marketing strategy for your startup business. Entrepreneurs learn new things by analyzing the market trend and what works for their brand. Despite, all the analysis and statistics, they tend to make mistakes.
Many mistakes most of the time that looks massive, end up being temporary setbacks. However, some mistakes may prove fatal for a startup business plan. These mistakes arise only when entrepreneurs exhibit a fundamental misunderstanding of best marketing practices. So if you are an entrepreneur and looking to avoid marketing mistakes that you must avoid, here is a list:
1. IGNORING THE BRAND
Your brand serves as the foundation of your business identity. It acts as a connecting link between your small startup business and your customers. Hence, if you try to market your business without a brand, you might have to taste the dust.
When people see your logo, your tagline, or pick up on your brand`s tone, they will form an opinion about your brand. This is the connection that is necessary for a business to thrive. Without it, your business is just floating in free space without any recognition and association.
So never market your business without brand building. The more connections you build the more familiar your customers will become with your brand.
2. MARKETING TO EVERYONE
One of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs can make is not being aware of their target customers. For instance, not everyone loves Apple IPhones and there could be multiple reasons like budget, operating system, interface, or restrictions.
Hence, it is very important to choose your market niche carefully and not market your product to everybody. Many entrepreneurs think that “everybody” is the largest possible audience, and so it offers the largest possible return. But the truth is far from this notion. A generic brand message has the least recall value.
So to stand out, you have to be unique when it comes to marketing, just like your startup business idea. Create specifically crafted messages for one segment of your customers at a time.
3. PRESUMPTIONS ABOUT AN AUDIENCE
Making presumptions can be disastrous when it comes to potential customers. There are some marketers who very well understand that every customer is unique and hence, they should craft messages by keeping a specific audience in mind. Still, they don`t do it effectively!
Instead of relying on data and statistics, they rather make broad assumptions about their target audience. This can be detrimental for any business, especially for a startup business that is struggling to enter the market. Every entrepreneur needs to ask this question to themselves. If they are making their market decisions because of the way you think things work, or because of the way things work in practical work?
4. INVESTING LITTLE OR TOO MUCH
Successful investment in marketing is similar to putting salt in a dish- both demand a careful balance! Investing too much money at the beginning of the startup can be a waste of money because you might not know your target audience very well. You don`t know which platforms are more suitable for your business and what works best for your brand.
On the other hand, if you are investing too little, it will not yield desired results and you might not be able to acquire new customers.
5. FAILING TO EXPERIMENT
Innovate or Die- this phrase defines marketing in the best possible way. If you are not experimenting, you can`t improve. And marketing is not a point-and-shoot game. It is a game of setting and resetting expectations, getting closer, but never reaching set parameters.
Watch how NOKIA lost its grip on the market and failed as a mobile giant in this video:
Hence, the only way to craft a perfect marketing strategy for your startup business is to try new things and being bold with your strategies, and see which ones work and which ones fail.
The above marketing strategies should be avoided when trying to establish a brand presence for a startup business. These mistakes are not only damaging for new entrepreneurs, but they are also some of the most common. The good news is that if you catch these mistakes early, you can up your marketing game.
If you want to know how to craft marketing strategies for your business, you can take our business coaching program.