Common issues are:
* Sending the wrong message to a specific target group
* The product/service is too complicated or not appealing enough
* The reputation is not there - case studies, testimonials and actual reviews
More expensive products and services need a solid portfolio of existing customers and successful projects or stories. Marketing is not a one-shot thing and prospects often have to be warmed up for weeks or more in order to get comfortable and convert to users. That's where freebies, educational resources, free consulting and more come into play.
This happens due to various reasons:
#1 - I saw many so-called marketers take over their campaigns, and start blindly without having a long term plan
#2 - Some people don't understand the basics, e.g. if they started organic optimization, they start expecting results within a few days, not paying attention to the fact, it's a long term process
#3 - Of course poor call to actions and poor user interface of the landing pages
#4 - Main reason, they build their websites for search engines and not for users
#5 - They don't learn from mistakes.
Online marketing is about community building, not sales. Good online marketing is about creating value in exchange for signups and then nurturing those relationships. that's how trust its built, which leads to more business.
As a creative producer who is hired to create unique marketing strategies and to grow tribes around a brand's thought leadership, I can share with you the ecosystem you might consider to deepen your relationships and enhance the trust required to grow your business. Here is an excerpt from one of my articles on Forbes:
Social media: In the relationship life cycle, social media is the flirting of the brand dating game. It should reflect the company’s essence and core values to catch the eyes of passersby. It should be honest enough to repel those not in alignment with the brand, while attracting those looking for the brand’s value.
Story-based content: When a lead clicks from social media, the brand needs to deliver story-based, emotional content that reflects the lead’s understanding of themselves. “Hey, that’s me!” Content like this takes investment to be created in alignment with the brand. Like enjoying a cup of coffee together, this encounter increases the leads curiosity while inviting them out on another date.
Resources: Resources attached to each story are the first surprise the lead feels from the brand. These free and loving resources deliver value based on the topic the brand is championing. Like an unexpected gift, this experience creates a magic moment when the lead sees a beautiful version of themselves reflected in the brand. They actually like themselves more when around the brand. In the dating cycle, this is also when the brand asks for the lead’s figurative phone number (their email).
Videos (or customer service): It’s time to offer the first in-person exposure of the brand to the lead. These are an opportunity to show the humanity of the brand and further enhance the lead’s impression. In the dating cycle, these are like having dinner. When done well, these deliver vulnerability, charm, passion and mystery to ensure that the lead leaves with an augmented expectation for what’s next. You’re looking to create a full-body experience for the lead here, not an intellectual one.
A Book or Stunning Product or Service. When a lead converts to a customer by picking up the company’s book, engaging in an in-depth service experience, or buying a signature product, they are getting in bed with the brand, and hoping for the night of their lives. Seriously. A book, when done well, is a six- to 10-hour commitment and must deliver an intimate experience for it to be effective in the ecosystem. Beautiful products or in-depth service offerings can also be substituted. Those of us who are iPhone users feel an intimate connection with our phone. An agency leading a full day listening session can elicit a similar response. Focus on the user experience. Deliver an intimate opportunity full of human truths. The goal here is to help a customer to fall madly in love with the brand.
Regular interaction: Once a customer has fallen in love, we enter the honeymoon phase. Here, the brand has a huge responsibility to nurture that relationship through regular interactions: workflows sent via email. Forget traditional advertising — email is most easily measured and controlled, and can lead customers to more resources where their profile can be enhanced so the brand can better get to know them as individuals. The brand must serve the customer with kindness, and most importantly, it must deliver on their individual needs. When it does so, the customer converts to a brand ambassador who shouts from the mountaintops about their new love affair. The brand should give them the tools to do so, while respecting the relationship and helping it move into a long-term commitment.
Monetization: Brand ambassadors are the ones who exchange money for products. Their love for the brand inspires them to wear the brand’s clothing, hang the brand on their walls, use the brand’s products and services, drink from branded mugs, or wear branded jewelry. Pride of association and value they have received from the brand is reciprocated through purchases.
Workshops and conferences: Create small romantic getaways that help the relationship mature through direct interaction between customer and brand. Apple does this through the Genius Bar. Thought leaders do this through workshops. Some companies do this through conferences. Not only do these deepen the relationship between the brand and the customer, they also create space for brand ambassadors to meet like minds and share their common love of the brand.
Loving your customer is simple and intuitive, yet it requires tremendous courage. When executed well, love can help any CMO look brilliant and retain their position. Yes, love is risky. Love scares most people. But love is also where life exists. As prolific screenwriter and author Ben Hecht once said, “Love is the magician that pulls man out of his own hat.”
1. Absence of testing.
2. Going online without knowing what they want out of it, or have pie in the sky dreams,
3. Trusting a vendor who says "If you build it, they will come."
4. Gathering too little information from prospects or demanding too much.
5. Requiring registration before sales.
6. Not understanding ROI.
7. Not understanding how Google rewards and punishes.
8. Throwing too much of their $ at something while taking away too much from something else that is working.
These are just a few. I'd be here all day if I listed them all, but these are some of the biggies.
Companies fail to present positive results in online marketing can be due to following reasons:
1. Lack of basic business knowledge: Advances in technology and online services have made it easy for almost anyone to open a business online. There are a variety of website platforms and shopping carts that allow you to sell products from your website, with setup perhaps only taking a few hours. If you are familiar with the internet and know a little bit about HTML, you may figure that it’s simple to set up and operate an ecommerce store – with no business background required. Unfortunately, not having a general knowledge of basic business terms, or how businesses operate, might be your downfall. If you have a successful ecommerce store that is making a few thousand dollars a week, but you do not know what your operating costs are, you may run out of money very quickly. Alternately, if you’re not keeping track of the profit margin on the products you are selling, or tracking the costs of the sales you are running, you may be reselling products for more than what it cost to purchase them in the first place. Running a business is not as simple as subtracting your expenses from your profits. There are a lot of factors that determine whether you are operating at a profit, and not being aware of them – or being mindful of “hidden” expenses – could very quickly lead to your downfall. So before starting your business online, or opening an ecommerce website, make sure you have a full knowledge of how to run a business. You can look for a business course to take at a local university or online or learn from a trusted business partner who is willing to help you take those first shaky steps. Although there will always be a few lucky entrepreneurs who are able to “dive right in” and learn as they go along, do not assume that this will be you. Learning as you go could be a huge mistake. When your business is operating, you need to focus on running it not learning how to run it.
2. Lack of defined business identity: Before starting a business, you should be able to answer a few simple questions with confidence:
1. What am I offering?
2. Why is it desirable?
3. Who is my customer?
4. How does this benefit them?
5. What are my long-term goals?
If you cannot answer these basic questions, this may present a challenge for your business. For example, if you are “just selling stuff you think is cool,” you might be in trouble. Flea market stands may do well, and individual product listings on marketplaces or auction websites will probably make you so money but building your online presence around selling “cool stuff” is not wise. It is hard to differentiate yourself from other websites unless you have theme or purpose. Define your business identity by answering the questions above. If you are passionate about baby supplies, and know that your customer base is mothers-to-be who are looking for affordable cloth diapers and changing tables, you should be able to build an attractive website with a very clear identity and purpose. This may also help you write great website copy and properly optimize your site for specific keywords or key phrases.
3. No business goals: Many online businesses fail because they do not have any goals or expectations. Yes, you may have a vague goal of “make money by selling online,” or may expect to be profitable by offering a service or piece of software, but you should have some very specific goals beyond that. For example, using our baby supplies example, these might be some realistic goals:
a) Make $20,000 a month from online sales
b) Sell 500 packages of cloth diapers per month
c) Reach a 10% conversion rate by the end of the year
Without one or more goals, you will not know what you are striving for. Many online businesses fail to succeed because they never set these kinds of goals. Without goals, they may not have a clear direction for their activities and may never do the right things to help turn a profit. When you are setting goals for a new business, start small, and remember to be realistic. You may want to set a goal of making 25 sales your first month or reaching a set amount of profit. Once that goal is met, you can set a new goal. However, make sure that you are doing the right kind of work to help meet your goals. If you set a goal to increase your revenue, but you don’t ramp up your marketing activities, properly optimize your website, or add additional products and services, you may find that your sales stay flat.
4. Not learning important skills or concepts: Even if you are an experienced business owner with a brick-and-mortar location, you will probably learn very quickly that selling online is different than selling in a physical store. As we mentioned earlier, almost anyone can start a business online, and it is for this very reason that competition is extremely high. Even with the number of new stores failing, there are major players in nearly every ecommerce space that can give you a run for your money. You will need to learn a lot of new concepts, terms, and skills if you plan to succeed online. These skills can range from learning to program or write code for your website in HTML or CSS to creating and evaluating A/B tests that relate to conversion rate optimization. The best way you can learn about running an online business is by reading guides, articles, and blog posts from industry leaders or internet marketing companies. These companies can provide invaluable advice on everything from creating a new ecommerce store to properly marketing to your audience.
5. Heavy competition: Sometimes, the answer to the question of “why do online businesses fail?” is amazingly simple: too much competition. Because there are so many businesses online selling the same items as you, or with a similar business model, it can be exceedingly difficult to differentiate yourself. If you want to beat your competition, you need to identify their weaknesses and take advantage of them as quickly as possible. Competing against established businesses can be difficult, but it is not impossible. To succeed, you need to have a particularly good idea of what they are doing wrong, or not doing at all. For example, if you are selling cloth diapers, you may notice that your biggest competitor doesn’t have a detailed “how to use” page on their website, which may be frustrating mothers and driving them away. Or you may notice that another competitor’s pricing is extremely high, even though the quality of their products is the same as yours. Identifying these weaknesses, and modifying your business model or tactics appropriately, can give you the edge you need to succeed. Once you have started your business, do not ignore your competitors, and assume that you are doing a better job than them, even if your sales are extremely high. Keep a close watch on what they are doing. You can do this by following them on social media or signing up to receive emails from them. Chances are, they will try to identify your weaknesses, too so it is crucial to stay ahead of the game. Finally, if you are still at the stage at which you want to start a business but are not sure what to do, choose carefully. Look for markets that have lower barriers to entry in terms of competition and marketplace dominance. If you want to sell tissues, you are almost guaranteed to fail unless your product is revolutionary.
6. Website lacking in SEO: SEO, or search engine optimization, is a crucial component of any modern website. SEO refers to a few ways by which a website is properly optimized to rank more highly in search results. Some common ways that a site can be optimized is through keyword-rich content (like homepage text or product copy), internal and external links, and the presence of special text like title tags or alt text on images. If you are new to selling online and do not know anything about SEO, you should spend as much as time as possible learning about it before making your next move. Without a SEO strategy, it can be extremely difficult to rank in search engines for the terms that you associate with your business. For example, if your baby supplies business does not optimize its site for “cloth diapers,” the chances of you ranking for it naturally are exceptionally low. For new business owners, SEO can be a complicated and challenging component of their online activities. In many cases, it is best to consult a SEO firm for help, especially if you are just starting your site in a competitive field. Do not think that you can ignore SEO or rank highly in searches purely because you have a beautiful website or great products. Even if it is only at the beginning, you will need to take action to optimize your website, build links to it, and get your keywords on your pages and in other important locations. Without a knowledge of SEO, you may unfortunately find yourself among the 90% of businesses that fail online.
7. No social media presence: Marketing your business is an important part of drawing in new customers. Unless you put the word out there about your store or service, and actively promote yourself on relevant websites or social media channels, you may find that you don’t have enough customers arriving through organic search or word of mouth to sustain your business. One now-common marketing method is social media. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and more can help new customers find your website and motivate them to make a purchase. For example, if you are pinning photos of cloth diapers to Pinterest, and someone searches the site for “cloth diapers,” you may receive some clicks from parents who like your photos or want to see what you are selling. Facebook and Twitter also have targeted advertising options that allow you to spend as little or as much as you want on ads or Promoted Tweets. However, the saying “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” absolutely applies to social media. These sites should not be the only way that you make people aware of your business. If you rely only on Facebook and forget about SEO, or use Twitter heavily without doing research to determine if that’s where your customers are actually looking for information, you may find that social media is unsuccessful for you. Try to include social media as part of a bigger marketing plan, and do not rely on it as a sole source of new fans or customers.
8. No original or helpful content: You may have heard the phrase “content is king,” and this is true for online businesses. More and more customers are relying on content – not products – to determine whether a business is worth their attention and investment. One way that you can set yourself apart from your competitors is by acting as a source of original content that is helpful or interesting to potential buyers. Returning to our cloth diaper example, you may have noticed that your competitors do not supply any usage instructions, which often leads to confusion or negative reviews posted online. Why not take advantage of this by posting a detailed “how to use” page with photos or illustrations? You could even take this a step further and start a blog about baby supplies or create articles about news in your industry. If you plan on using content marketing to promote or supplement your website, make sure what you are doing is original. Do not simply scrape content from other sites or do the same things as your competitors. As we already discussed, you should be looking for ways to outsmart your competitors. Above all else, everything you do should be helpful to your customers, and should provide them with value not simply create noise.
9. Lack of maintenance: After your website is up and running, you may think your job is over. But it is not as simple as that. Internet trends and technologies are constantly changing, and your website needs regular maintenance to keep it looking and performing at its best. Keeping your site updated on a regular basis ensures that you are providing customers with up-to-date information about your products and services, and it can position you as a leader in your industry. Without regular site upkeep, you run the risk of losing your top rankings in search results, and competitors will jump at the chance to outrank you.
10. No support system: Sometimes you need a little help selling online. You do not have to do this alone. The advice and guidance of a proven internet marketing company might be the key to your success, especially if you are going into business for the very first time.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
