What's up my friends!
Today I wanna share with you some of the few major things that might be sucking your money, your time and your energy. and you might be unaware of. First of all, do you know that, according to Forbes, 8 out 10 businesses in the US go bankrupt within 18 months? Wonder why?
Well, I see ads every single day, whether on social media, or google or even print ads. And I notice these mistakes are repeated over and over and they cost A LOT of money, and people end up blaming online marketing and go back to their old ways. I personally spent more than $12 000 only on Facebook for my own business, beside my clients ad spend. Anyways! Let's get into it!
1- You're not tracking your traffic:
When I just started my agency, I spent lot of time talking with clients, I literally used to spent 4 hours with people to understand their pain. I can tell this is the major mistake people do. They have no idea about their customers, which platform they come from or device they use the most, their age, their sexe, where they live or what kind of jobs they do...etc. You really need to understand your people, be "customer obsessed" and know as much as you can about them. That makes things really easy for you and your marketing team. And that is the only way to optimize your ads, adjust so that you can get better conversions and ROI.
For instance, I've been working with a medical spa owner, she was getting few clients from Groupon, and for those who don't know Groupon it's like a platform where literally "The cheapest offer wins" and they take 50% of whatever the money you make, beside the 50% discount she was offering, so basically she was losing money, hoping to make a profit on the back-end by up-selling other services, but never worked, why? People who came in, never bought a thing, they were broke. So I simply took the same offer, put on Facebook, tested and tested and tested until I found a sweet spot, generated 20 appointments in one month, not leads, appointments, all that with only $200. I wouldn't do that without tracking, adjusting and optimizing depending on the need of our audience.
2- You're not retargeting:
Sometimes people are really interested in your offer, they even NEED it, but they're so busy, and get easily distracted, they get phone calls or they're at work, or maybe driving, so they never take action, and they probably save it for later. and sometimes they go to your website or landing page but they get turned off for some reason, maybe because of trust, or the price (test, test, test and improve) And that's why you need to retarget those people depending on what kind of action they took, retargeting someone who liked your ad post is different from retargeting someone who visited your website.
I think I'll never stop preaching about using Facebook, it's the most accurate advertising tool out there and so underpriced. Retargeting is like magic, so precise and even CHEAP. This was the biggest mistake I made myself in my own business, I sold 1000's of dollars, using only cold traffic and never retargeted others, leaving lots of money behind me. But that's okay lesson learned! But don't make the same!
3- You're not following up:
Whether your potential customer scheduled an appointment or not, you need to follow up. What do you mean? Well if they already scheduled, let's say two weeks before the appointment, then you need to remind them. That's your responsibility. Not everybody has the habit to set a reminder on their calendar, and sometimes they do it and end up forgetting or planning other things like a trip or something. It's for your own benefit to follow up with them, at least if they want to cancel then you'll know it earlier and you can schedule someone else. Also, they'll see how you care about them and make them committed to their word.
On the other hand, if they showed interest in your offer but not scheduled with you, then you need to follow up with them to understand why they didn't and how you can make your offer better and personalized for them.
You can do that using email marketing or SMS marketing where everything can be automated.
4- You don't stand out of the rest of the pack:
are you just another chiropractor/plastic surgeon/dentist..ect? why you and what makes you different? Please have a reflection on this question.
You should know that most Americans are exposed to 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day. This according to Forbes not me ;) So is your ad just another one like the rest? No wonder why your marketing is sucking money out of you. There are many ways to stand out. You can do it through focusing on branding and long term instead of quick money. OR, in the short term, you can use some of the hacks to make your customer engage once they see your ad. If you interested in knowing more about this just reach out to me and I'll explain in details.
5- Not Customer obsessed:
There is no way to make a normal customer a loyal one without being obsessed by giving the best experience they can have. You must show them that you care and that you'll do whatever it takes to make them satisfied with the results from the moment they see your ad, to the moment they leave your business. Being customer obsessed and adjusting to the market is what made the difference between successful businesses and big brands, and those who went bankrupt. And the only to do that is by being constantly listening to your customers, and then continuously testing, enhancing, and personalizing the customer experience. For the most part, companies are marketing and money obsessed, not customer obsessed.
All in all, I know that your job, as a business owner, is to focus on what you're good at, and let your marketing team do the marketing. But I just wanted to bring some awareness to these mistakes that most people ignore. I hope that was helpful and thank you for taking the time to read this!
Cheers!
Guest Editor Marwane Wahbi I https://www.linkedin.com/in/marwanewahbi/
I help healthcare businesses grow using digital marketing | Organic Health and Beauty products wholesaler.