7 Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Fail in their Marketing Plans
We’ve been hearing lots of news reports about how people do not want to go back to the office and are instead pursuing their dreams of opening their own business. Becoming an entrepreneur sounds like a great idea and truly there are tremendous benefits. Flexible time, often working from anywhere, the ability to better balance family and work life, and the idea that your hard work directly benefits your business. Starting a business solo or with a small team often means that important work gets put aside for later. Most often that work is on the marketing side.
How can entrepreneurs ensure their success and avoid a long marketing to do list that never has items crossed off? By recognizing that the same reasons that stress us out on an average day, also contribute to a lackluster marketing campaign. Understand that there will be challenges, but with a few adjustments in how we tackle marketing as entrepreneurs, we will be better able to grow and thrive.
Thinking help costs a lot
Especially when we start a business, the costs seem overwhelming. If you’re not meeting the goals you set, that’s overwhelming too. Now is an ideal time to find help as experienced marketers, many with corporate branding experience or senior marketing expertise, have recently moved out of an expensive city and may have flexibility with their fees. You might realize that by using a freelance publicist, social media manager, or bookkeeper, that you are able to focus on another area of your business that only you can do. There are lots of great time-saving tools too like Later for social media and OnePitch which helps you know if you’ve written a good press pitch. Write down all of the tasks that are not being taken care of, see which ones would free up the most amount of your time if you hired a freelancer, set a budget no matter how small, and then search for help. You won’t know what’s out there until you start to look.
Not making the time or creating a plan focused on consistency
Entrepreneurs have a long to do list and focus on getting it done quickly. Growing a business is a long-term strategy. It’s better to do nothing with your marketing than have fits of starts and stops that look inconsistent and unprofessional. Stronger results will be achieved from posts on social media done three times a week for six-months then daily for two weeks that abruptly stop. If you created a plan, follow it closely and make adjustments. Make sure that whatever you are doing is consistent, even if it progresses more slowly than you would like.
Not knowing what do to with press results
Getting press coverage for your business feels great! But many entrepreneurs ask, “Where are my orders?” Understand that what you do with that press clip is what counts. Here are a few suggestions, and make sure you do this with every brand mention since it’s about consistency! Add the post to your social media, use it in emails to clients, put the link in your email signature, upload it to your website, and include it in new business presentations. Now more than ever entrepreneurs have to bring the press to clients. Don’t wait for the clients to see the article, click on it and find you. Even if an article does drive traffic to your company, it is always going to be helpful to support the writer and the website or magazine by sharing.
Little cross-marketing of the work already being done
If you feel completely overwhelmed and have the sense that you need to be doing more, then try and make one effort count in multiple ways. For example, use your marketing idea to post on social media, the same idea to pitch press, the same idea for your client newsletter, and the same idea for website content. It shouldn’t be exactly the same word for word, but there should be consistency, which is great for your brand, and it cuts down on the number of new ideas that you have to come up with later. Keep a running list of new ideas so you have a marketing calendar of campaigns that can be used at least two months ahead. It helps with consistency!
Entrepreneurs have a hard time asking for help
Mompreneurs specifically have a hard time asking for help. This group has been programmed to be able to do it all without asking for help. Manage a day at the office or some area of our home, handle the kids and the new dog, keep the house from being an insane mess, have food in the fridge, and don’t be too much of a nagging spouse or parent. At the end of the day we wonder why we are impatient and frazzled. The same mentality that leads us to believe that we can handle it all at home transfers to our entrepreneurial life.
Know that it’s okay to get help for your business. Sites like Upwork and Guru are platforms that connect entrepreneurs with freelancers. A good friend of mine found exceptional talent through her local newspaper. The best part is that the people she found are also moms or people that took time off to raise their kids and now want to get back to work. It’s a win-win. PS — My friend’s advice is to make sure you thoroughly check references before hiring anyone.
Giving yourself a hard time for not accomplishing more
There is not much to say here. Bad energy slows growth. Stop with the negativity because you are the only one that has the control to focus on positive thoughts and actions. It will take practice and you might need motivation — make every effort to not let negativity be a barrier to success.
Don’t make huge goals and never get to them
When we have so much going on, it is incredibly challenging to think about slowing down. We feel that we have to work harder. But a bitesize approach that allows us to successfully cross off items on a list will work best. Thinking about the list of marketing efforts seemed overwhelming, until you realize that each individual effort buildings towards success. In a few short months you will see measurable results. Once you have data about what works use it to grow one step at a time.
Entrepreneurs can run successful marketing campaigns by following the advice they often give -be patient, be positive, and be consistent!
