If Small Business Marketing Mistakes had Halloween Costumes
How a small business marketing strategy can banish these marketing mistakes
Spooky season is upon us! I don’t know about you guys, but personally, this is one of my favorite times of the year. Autumn resonates with people for a variety of reasons: the cooler weather, the change of pace, the opportunity to eat candy the entire month of October. However, the fall season is also a great time of the year to take a long, hard look at your business’s digital marketing and see what’s missing.
Outdated marketing. Inconsistent branding. Constant guesswork on your small business marketing strategy. While yes, we do have to get through Halloween first, the truth is inevitable: Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner. If your business is not up to date on its marketing by the time the end of the month rolls around, the scariest thing happening this Halloween will be in the weeks after, scrambling to get your ducks in a row before the holidays.
Evaluating any possible small business marketing mistakes you may have been making throughout the year is essential to maintaining a strong digital marketing strategy. In order to celebrate Spooky Season accordingly, I’ve decided to give a few of these mistakes a fun, festive Halloween costume (However, I truly hope none of you will be going as any of these things for Halloween this year). Recognizing the problem in all of its spooky glory is the first step to getting your digital marketing back on track.
The Ghost: Your marketing has disappeared.
If you have a website and social media, but they’ve sat untouched for months (or years), it’s official: They’ve been ghosted.
An outdated online presence can make a business look unreliable. Unfortunately, simply having a website or Instagram account is not enough. Social media and websites are often the first two stops that people make when looking for information on a business or product. If the information in these places is inaccurate or missing entirely, prospective customers won’t be able to figure out who you are, what you do, or what their next steps are.
Your digital presence might need attention if you:
Can’t remember the last time you updated your website
Haven’t posted on social media in the last 6 months
Have links throughout your website/social media that are broken or outdated
Haven’t updated your website/social media to include new products, sales, locations, or seasonal messaging
The solution: Bring your marketing back to life. Yes, even if this means digging deep in the files for your missing Instagram password. Here are some great places to start:
Scan your website/social media for outdated information. Compile a list of things that need to be changed, such as links, staff profiles, sales, products, addresses, etc.
Establish a realistic social media posting schedule. Focus on posting consistently over posting 24/7.
Take yourself through your prospective customer’s journey. Is your business info easy to find, or do you have to go on a scavenger hunt for it?
Ask yourself: “If I were a customer, would it be easy for me to find information on this business?” If the answer isn’t a resounding “yes,” then it might be time to jump back on it.
The Cobwebs: Your branding is stuck in the past.
Here’s a wakeup call…2019? That was seven years ago. If you still have your pre-Covid branding, it’s time to dust off the cobwebs and get with the times.
Losing track of your branding is easy to do. I mean, let’s face it: as small business owners, we’re wearing a million hats at once, and picking out a new font is usually not at the top of the priority list. However, old visuals and messaging can sneakily make your business feel less current or fail to reflect how it’s evolved over the years.
That being said, you don’t need to update your business’s brand messaging every year. It’s recommended that small businesses do a brand refresh every 2–3 years, with major rebrandings occurring every 5–7 years. Oh, and if you’re a newer business and you’ve never thought about solidifying your brand guidelines, there’s no time like the present!
The solution: Dust off your brand. Take a look at your messaging and visuals and see what’s aging your business. Evaluate your:
Overall visual identity. Logo, signage, colors, font, photography, etc.
Brand messaging. Do your brand guidelines and brand voice still reflect your business and the customers you serve?
Brand elements. Refresh the things that are outdated (logos, fonts, strategy), but maintain recognizable brand elements that set you apart.
Keep up with the times, but stay true to what your business is at its core.
The Zombie: DIY marketing is eating up all your time.
DIY projects are great for crafts and things around the house. For your business’s signage, graphics, and logos? Not so much.
While creating your own graphics can be more cost-effective, there is a hidden price you have to pay: your sanity. DIY graphic design can take business owners away from the work they should actually be doing — the work that only they can do. The learning curve involved in design can be extensive, and just because you can do it yourself doesn’t always mean you should.
“I’ll just use AI to create this graphic for me!” Let me stop you right there. While AI can be a great tool to use for a variety of business and marketing-related activities, graphic design is not one of them. When you use AI-generated signage, logos, and graphics, you risk:
Generic, basic graphics that don’t stand out among competitors
Customer distrust (AI-generated graphics are often considered “lazy” or “unprofessional”)
Lack of strategy (AI does not understand your audience or business in the same way you do)
The solution: Let the experts handle your design. Not the robots. Not your own late-night efforts. The professionals. Strongly consider:
Outsourcing tasks that aren’t the best use of your time.
Working with a professional who can efficiently create quality signage and graphics.
Reinvesting the time you saved into running and growing your business.
You’re doing too much and you don’t need to be. A lot of time, outsourcing the work you’re struggling with is better than trying to become an expert in every marketing skill on the face of the planet.
The Fortune Teller: Stop guessing and start strategizing.
“I think this [strategy] [content] [graphic] [trend] [website] will work.”
Amazing! Has it though? And how do you know? It’s so easy to be confident in what we think will happen in the future. However, a marketing strategy based entirely on assumptions is both inefficient and ineffective. Whether it’s your website, social media, or overall branding, it’s absolutely essential to understand the specifics of who you’re trying to reach and what you’re trying to accomplish.
Jumping on every social media trend isn’t the same as having a strategy. A one-page website with a phone number isn’t the same as having a strategy. An AI-generated flyer isn’t the same as having a strategy. I will shout it from the rooftops time and time again: Quality marketing takes time. Quicker isn’t always better, and guesswork is almost never productive.
The solution: Build a small business marketing strategy based on goals and data. Slow down, research, and strategize.
Clearly define your marketing goals. What do you want to accomplish and when? Be specific!
Identify your target audience. Age range, location, interests, hobbies, and other demographics are important to know.
Choose channels and platforms based on where your audience spends their time.
Track your results and adjust your strategy. What good are numbers if you don’t do anything with them? Build off of your results.
Use data and professional expertise instead of your own assumptions. Intuition is great, but proven data is better.
A strong marketing strategy cannot be solely built on speculation. As much as I wish we could always trust our gut, research and data are also an essential piece to the puzzle
Which marketing costume are you wearing right now?
Have you ghosted your website and social media? Do you need to dust off your old branding? Are you staying up late into the night DIY-ing your own graphics? Have you been trying to predict the future with “educated” guesses about your marketing strategy?
If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then it might be time to take a step back and reevaluate your digital marketing. These problems are common and fixable among small businesses. Identify which one you resonate with the most, and then decide what your next step is.
Stop letting your digital marketing haunt you.
When you’re a small business owner, it can feel like there’s a never-ending pile of work sitting in front of you at all times. Digital marketing can quickly become just one more chore haunting you day in and day out.
It doesn’t have to be like this. Outsourcing your website maintenance, social media, graphic design, or other digital marketing disciplines is a great way to take a few things off of your plate while continuing to put quality and productive work forward.
Mesman Media exists to be a trusted resource, partner, and advisor for small businesses who are looking to increase or improve their digital presence. We would love to tell your story, whether that’s communicating your values, connecting with your audience, or simply finding the words that you’re struggling to find.
The digital-age can be stressful, but the benefits are too impactful to miss out on. Mesman Media is here to help your business be seen and heard, creating a lasting impact that resonates with your audience and builds sustainable success.
Ready to elevate your digital marketing? Get in touch with us today!
