Too often business owners complain and whine that marketing does not work. There are numerous articles with testimonials expressing that content marketing, ad campaigns, advertising tactics, and more are all products with no real results. Sure, there is some truth to a handful of these stories. However, they all can’t be true, and we can prove it. We have 7 reasons why marketing isn’t working correctly for your business during this coronavirus pandemic.

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Before we even dive into this study, let’s examine the facts first. In a 2018 B2B content marketing study, “Of the successful marketers, 62% have a documented content strategy. Of the unsuccessful marketers, only 16% have a documented content strategy.” In addition to that, of the most successful companies surveyed, 89% were extremely committed to content marketing. On the flip side, of the least successful companies surveyed, only 27% were committed to content marketing. 

The last number we want you to ponder is this; 75% of most successful organizations deliver content consistently, compared to only 33% for the least successful companies. These statistics are astonishing, but not shocking. They go hand-in-hand with the 7 reasons why your marketing isn’t working.

Have Marketing Goals

Let’s say you’re a relatively new business owner. You’ve been on your own for a few months, have all your social media profiles optimized, and even are generating some income. Sounds good right? Well, you are setting yourself up for failure and you don’t even know it. While all these statements might be positive, you have no goals for your business.

Do you have a certain number of followers you want to reach? How much product do you want to make by the summer? What is the number of site traffic you want to reach on a daily basis in the next 3 months? How many new designs or styles do you want your customers to be able to select from? The most important question you need to answer is what is your purpose. 

You can have an extremely successful company, but with no goals, there is no room to improve and advance. It is irresponsible to invest your time, energy, and resources into something to not write out your goals. You need to have a vision for the company or else it will not sustain.

Create a strategy

One of the huge statistics laid out earlier was how only 16% of the least successful organizations had a marketing strategy. If you are one of the owners who say that marketing doesn’t work for me, you fall into this category. You are fooling yourself if you think that your business will skyrocket with no strategy in an industry filled with competition.

When figuring out a strategy that works please remember this statement from Neil Patel. “Content marketing strategy takes in the big picture of marketing — audience, revenue, profit, and brand. Deciding to have a blog and write articles is not a strategy.”

The important thing to remember about strategies is that they are meant to change. It makes sense when you think about it. As your business evolves, so should your marketing strategy. Every year new technology is developed, competition rises, and resources expand, which means that you should constantly be thinking about ways to grow. 

Know your audience

Neil Patel pointed out that part of your strategy needs to include your audience. A big reason many companies don’t succeed is that they don’t know who their target audience is. What area is your business located? What are the spending habits of your target audience? What products do they buy the most? How do you even capture their attention?

Do you have anyone on your senior team who represents the minds of your target audience? You can have all the financial backing and qualifications, but without a clear audience that fits your brand, you will be wasting your time.

There are several ways to tap into the minds of your audience. On almost every social media platform, you can run polls and even ask questions to see what your followers prefer. You’ll be able to see the results quickly, and it can help with your targeting. Marketing your products to the right audience is essential for your success

Have Linkedin involvement

We all hear about how popular Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are, but what about LinkedIn. It is the number one networking site for professionals. Not engaging on LinkedIn is a disservice to you. In addition to connecting, LinkedIn also has a special tool to help you grow your sales.

The LinkedIn Sales Navigator was designed to “Target the right buyers, understand key insights, and engage with personalized outreach.” While the program does cost, you can request a free demo. Super Office reported that “89% of top performing sales people say social networking platforms, such as LinkedIn, are important in closing deals and are part of their sales strategy.” This number speaks volumes.

The purpose of the Sales Navigator is to help owners find decision-makers quicker, keep track of all leads, and successfully reach potential clients. How is this possible? According to their site, this is done through an enormous amount of features that include:

• sending 20 InMail messages per month,
• 1,500 saved leads, letting you see who’s viewed your profile,
• extended LinkedIn network access,
• advanced lead and company searches,
• lead and account recommendations,
• custom Lists,
• territory preferences,
• lead and Account Alerts,
• email integrations (Gmail, Outlook Web),
• notes and tags,
• access to the Sales Navigator Learning Center, and more. 

Financial Risk

So many want to become entrepreneurs, but don’t factor in the financial risks. When discussing a marketing strategy, Patel mentioned having a budget. At the beginning of your journey as an owner, you will be fronting the majority, if not all of the start-up costs. If you want your business to succeed, you must be willing to sacrifice funds. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee you’ll make a profit, or even break even! That’s why it’s called a risk. Please do not deceive yourself.

However, one can make the argument that if you aren’t willing to put your own money up behind your brand, you don’t deserve to have a successful business in the first place. Having a budget is critical. For example, the LinkedIn Sales Navigator might bring you more customers than you could ever imagine. Yes, it costs, but are you willing to take a leap of faith? One thing you do know is that if you never invest, you’ll never get any results.

Engaging content

Sometimes you have to take a harsh look at your social media. You might be wondering why your engagement, followers, and impressions aren’t where you want them to be. Have you analyzed your content? Your marketing strategy might be amazing, but if your content is boring, nobody is going to buy or even pay attention! Every profile and website you manage needs to contain a mixture of text posts, quality images, attention-grabbing videos, and more. 

It also is smart to make sure that your social media profiles, specifically Instagram, have a visual scheme. There are numerous color schemes to look up so that your page is appealing to the audience. In addition to that, there are ways to organize posts on Instagram that are unique. Keep in mind that Instagram only uses 3 posts in 1 row. Knowing that you could design your page so that all your videos are in the middle. Be creative with how you post, as well as consistent!

Use SEO

“SEO, otherwise known as search engine optimization, is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing the visibility of a website or a web page to users of a web search engine.” If you aren’t using keywords to boost your business, you are limiting your potential. Keywords are how Google recognizes you. You want to market your brand so that when people search for a product, you are the first company that comes up with their search.

Every page of your website needs to have keywords on it. You want as many keywords so that Google can push your website higher without any payment. While you’re posting, it’s important to check your position on Google Ranks. Google Analytics can help you do this as it keeps updating your rank. If you are utilizing SEO, but you still aren’t high on Google Ranks, then maybe your keywords aren’t specific enough.