by Alex Shultz of Sure Oak
To succeed in business, you have to market your business. But did you know that marketing doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive?
In this digital age, you no longer need a team of experts and piles of cash to get your message out there. With the right mindset — and a little creativity — you can get more eyes on your company than ever.
While many business owners know this, they often make some bonehead marketing mistakes — mistakes they could have easily avoided.
It’s true that nobody is perfect; and it’s doubly true that we all make mistakes. That being said, you should do what you can to avoid these major marketing pitfalls.
These are the top three marketing mistakes you need to avoid in 2020.
1. Neglecting Mobile Users.
This is one of those mistakes that you might not even know you’re making.
Everyone knows that mobile use is rising to unprecedented levels. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance you’re reading this very article on your phone.
But like that old dog that just can’t learn new tricks, most businesses are still designing websites for desktop computers and then trying to make them work on smartphones.
This is like trying to jam a square peg through a round hole: it just doesn’t make sense. Why would you design your website for desktop computers first, when you know for a fact that most of your customers will reach you using a mobile device?
To avoid this mistake, you need to turn your entire approach on its head: start with a mobile-friendly design. Once it looks good on your phone, you can then make it look good on your desktop.
Curious to see if your website has any mobile errors? Check out Google’s mobile-friendly test for an expert’s opinion. Your results might surprise you!
2. Not Using Pop-ups Appropriately.
Some marketers might tell you to avoid pop-ups altogether, while another camp pushes pop-ups by the masses. So who’s right, and what’s the best way to approach pop-ups?
In our opinion, both of these people are making a huge mistake with their marketing strategies.
You don’t want to ignore pop-ups entirely. On average, using pop-ups boasts a 3.1 percent conversion rate, but you can get way more juice out of it if you use them effectively.
When your company uses pop-ups appropriately, you can dangle a magnet right in front of your visitors and quickly earn a lead. You can then stay in touch with these leads through email marketing.
But how do you implement a popup strategy without going overboard? That’s the delicate balance every business must understand.
First, you don’t want to set the pop-ups to launch upon visiting the site. If a visitor is coming to your landing page, they are hoping to see the website. Don’t get in the way of that.
On top of that, you should avoid putting pop-ups all over your site. This makes it difficult to navigate your website, and will cause people to stop visiting altogether.
Thankfully, there’s a proven method for pop-up success.
The best time to implement a popup is when the visitor begins to leave the site. You can trigger it with exit intent, which is when the visitor moves the mouse to the URL bar in hopes of going to another website.
You can also use heat mapping, which allows you to see how the visitor is interacting with your site. With this information, you will find the best places to add a popup message for your audience. Just implement a pop-up wherever you see your audience losing interest.
Above all, make sure that you experiment and see what works best for your company.
3. Neglecting the Power of Location.
Location data should be at the top of your priority list for 2020. By collecting and analyzing data based on where your customers are, you can gain new insights that will be invaluable for segmentation and targeting.
Pulling location data is usually done anonymously, so there’s never anything personal shared. Various sensors are used to pinpoint devices, achieving extreme levels of accuracy. Once you have the data, you can use heatmap software like Maptive to analyze it.
When you factor location into the marketing equation, you build a stronger relationship between your business and your customer. Having the ability to customize your message to suit their needs gives you an extreme leg-up over the competition.
If you haven’t begun using location tools, now’s the time to get started.
Alex Shultz is a digital marketing strategist at Sure Oak. Alex has a background in SEO, but he’s also interested in entrepreneurship, social media, and cats. You can connect with him through LinkedIn.
