Digital Marketing needs patience, focus and unlimited dedication with very less expectations; marketing on the web is slow, painful and full of nasty surprises. Often digital entrepreneurs assume success to be like a race – wherein you reach a destination and declare victory.
But this is far from being true!
Marketing is a gradual process not an event; it requires relentless pursuit of excellence while leveraging the existing resources. Here are 5 marketing illusions which a digital entrepreneur should kill right away:
Contents
A) Focusing on features and not benefits
Often the entrepreneur is so much engrossed in his products or services that he forgets one important fact: this is Internet, where any information about any product/service/idea is available within 0.01 seconds on Google.com. If you are selling hand-bags, there is no point in screaming about the features of the hand-bag, its size and the material used because this information is easily available to anyone.
The number one rule of any marketing campaign is to highlight the benefits of the products rather than its features. The customer when looking your products on your website is trying to find the answer to this question: “What is there for me?”
Provide that answer first and everything else comes later!
When an entrepreneur starts his new business, he thinks, “Yes, there is Facebook and Twitter, and how can I forget LinkedIn and Google+? Instagram and Pinterest are good as well.. So are WordPress and Tumblr! Someone said I must be on Foursquare and Reddit at any cost..” and so on. The desire to be present on every possible social network makes you spread thin, and makes you weak.
Depending on your niche and industry, choose one social network which is the most important for your business and concentrate all your energy and enthusiasm into that.
Once a dedicated tribe of followers and fans are created, focus on other social networks. It’s the quality of your social media posts and the engagement level which will determine it’s success; not your presence on every social network with minimal activities. Don’t spread yourself too thin!
C) Asking your mom about your website
I love my mother, so do you. But when you seek suggestions about your website and business from your mother, then it complicates things. For example, she may like it and praise it in front of you to make you happy. But she is not your customer. [Note: I am just using mother as an example, it represents anyone and everyone close to you.]
Seeking feedbacks and suggestions from your targeted customer is one of the most important marketing initiatives for the entrepreneur. Walk in their shoes and try to understand the world from their viewpoint. Asking family members about usability and design of your website is a big mistake. Show them what you have created, but don’t seek their suggestions.
Lookout for your customers, and seek their inputs.
D) Dependency on Paid Advertisements
Paid marketing seems easy at the beginning: You invest money into it, and get the clicks. Some of those clicks may convert into sales and the cycle repeats. But after few months, you realize that biggest disappointment: There are no repeat customers.
It has been established that repeat customers bring in the most profits for any business. And paid marketing doesn’t bring repeat customers.
Paid marketing is like a well which you need to dig daily to drink water. The day you stop digging, there is no water to drink. Conceptualizing a marketing strategy which is not dependent on paid marketing is very important for the digital entrepreneur, failure of which can cost you big time.
Use paid marketing as just another stream to get customers, and keep on improving organic marketing for maximum results.
E) Ignoring Personal Branding
The most important asset which any entrepreneur has is his own name; his own personal brand. In the rush to achieve targets and improve quarterly performance report, most of the digital entrepreneurs ignore their own personal branding, which is a terrible mistake.
The perfect example of personal branding can be observed in Sir Richard Branson. The way he has created his own identity along with Virgin Airlines is simply an amazing story of personal branding. His primary tool has been his blogs, but there are several other ways as well using which an entrepreneur can create his own personal brand which can be leveraged to achieve even greater results.
So, which of the above 5 illusions you have resorted to? Do let us know in comments!
Suggested Reading: Five Marketing Blunders you must avoid!
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Hi Mohul ,
Very Good Write up , enjoyed reading it’s inspiring and motivation