7 Common Marketing Strategy Mistakes Mid-Market Companies Make

Why do some companies make a fortune from marketing strategies while other companies flounder? The difference lies in the implementation of those marketing strategies. Specifically, the companies in the latter category have likely fallen into some common marketing mistakes we see commonly with mid-market brands. Alternatively, the former group has deep insight into the details that go into who their core audience is and what they need in order to convert and remain loyal brand advocates.

Here are the 7 Common Marketing Strategy Mistakes Mid-Market Companies Make:

Substandard Research

Before kick-starting your marketing campaign, you have to build your brand’s name in addition to understanding your potential audience. Before you finally launch your final large marketing campaign, consider spending some of it to actually verify your facts.

Try spending small amounts in dollars and test how different messages and keywords are performing. There’s a chance that you may end up finding messages and SEO keywords that are better than the existing ones. But don’t go too far and know when to stop. 

A technique, commonly called A/B testing, is used in this regard to test your message across different mediums like newsletters, social media, blogs, and emails. So instead of directly spending large amounts on a campaign, spend in small amounts and see how each technique works – then you can move forward after you see a reasonable spike in your responses.

Having a poor approach to research is one of the top mistakes Mid-Market Companies make.

Failure to Capture Permanent Customers

The second most common mistake that Mid-market companies make failing to maintain their customers. They’re either not considerate about this or they’re completely unaware of the customer psychology.

It should be noted that if a customer buys from you and you let the customer know that you value them, they will always come back for more. It is possible and strongly suggested that smaller companies maintain a personal relationship with their customers.

Instead of addressing your customers with newsletter openers like “Hey there”, try saying “Hey Mike”, followed by exclusive offers designed just for them. When you have a heart-to-heart with your customers, they’ll convert into permanent ones. 

In other words, the primary tactic to capture a customer is by providing great product quality. But after that, you have to attend to the customer with a great code of conduct – for this will make the customer feel valued and will consequently lead to conversion.

Lack of Focus on Potential Audiences’ Needs

You have to stay vigilant and be considerate of your audience’s needs at all times. If you’re a business owner, ask yourself, do you know the needs and wants of your customers?

Surprisingly, only a handful of businesses keep a check on this mistake. There’s an ideal way to avoid this mistake. You can do this by finding out what your potential audience’s search results are. For example, what is the problem they’re finding the solution to? And then finding the answer to that solution – followed by providing a solution better than anyone else in the market. 

The above technique is a fool-proof method to keep your focus narrowed down to where it matters. Understanding the audience’s needs is also a must step that companies have to go through but only a few practically do it. When you know the needs of your customers and know what they’re searching for, you can develop a brand name for yourself based on the solution.

After you’ve developed a name for yourself, you can continue to provide a solution to your target audience.

Failing To Keep a Track on Performance 

The businesses that are thriving in the e-commerce market right now have been able to do so by having a firm check on their performance at all times. It’s only when you’re critically observing yourself that you learn to get better.

In order to truly be an epitome of excellence, you have to keep a strict and regular check on your performance. The response to your email marketing, newsletters, advertising campaigns, and SEO analytics should be observed at all times. 

Mid-market companies either fail to keep a check on the performance or they’re very casual about it – either way, this is a very common mistake that most companies make. 

Not Evolving With Time

Somewhere on the line, mid-market companies start believing that e-commerce is a passive business – well, it’s not. Firstly, if you’re only adding new products to your website and not using the right medium to advertise and market it, there’s really no point in doing it.

Secondly, if you’re going to be conservative about growing and adapting to new norms – you’re not going to last very long. In order to truly evolve and become a high-end performer in the market, you not only have to update your products as trends evolve but you also have to evolve as a company in general. You have to let go of the practices you were pursuing three years ago. 

Look at the internet right now and look at what it was 20 years ago – there have been massive changes. If you believe that the e-commerce industry isn’t changing every passing day, think again!

Not Investing Enough

In addition to believing in the myth of forever passive income, if you’re unwilling to invest in your e-commerce business and its marketing strategies – how can you last in the market?

Investing in your continuously growing business is equivalent to watering plants. If you stop watering and taking care of them, sooner or later they’re going to pale away out of the rough and tough of nature. 

Similarly, if you’re not investing enough regularly in your marketing and maintenance campaign, you’ll be in trouble sooner or later. 

Targeting a Broad Audience When You Just Can’t

One of the very common mistakes mid-market companies make is targeting a broad audience right from the start. Listen, your marketing strategies require detailed research and planning sessions. It’s hard enough to build a strategy and research for one specific niche already. If you’re expecting to collectively target audiences from multiple backgrounds, you need to have access to even greater resources and even then it would be a tough job. 

In other words, companies usually end up making this mistake when they’re overestimating themselves.

Lastly, you should know that everyone makes mistakes, that’s how we learn. But if you’re not learning from your mistakes, you are putting your business in jeopardy.