The 5 Biggest Marketing Mistakes Killing Small Businesses

Mistake 1: You Have Activity, Not a Strategy

My most valuable mentor was my father. One of the most important lessons he ever passed on to me was this: every single war that has ever been won in the history of this planet was won because the leader of that side put together a better strategy than the other side. As simple as that. It wasn't about the size. It wasn't about the weapons. It was mostly about the strategy.

Now look at how most businesses are doing marketing. Posting content occasionally, not systematically. Running random Facebook ads, not planned, not thought through, not analyzed. Sending a few occasional emails. Waking up in the morning saying, maybe today I'll try to generate a sale. That's not a strategy. That's hoping.

Here's the fix. Your marketing should follow a specific path. You want to capture attention, but for what purpose? Just so you can be a famous TikToker who knows how to dance and feel good about yourself? Or because you're trying to generate leads that you can nurture, that eventually convert into customers? When you know why you want the attention and exactly how you're going to get it, you can stand out, deliver value, build trust, and eventually get the sale. Strategy first. Everything else second.

Mistake 2: Trying to Reach Everyone

There's a saying in marketing: if you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. Here's something that might sound sad. Most people are not interested in your products or services. That's the bad news. The good news? You don't need most people to build a business. In the United States alone there are over 250 million human beings, from age 12 or 13 all the way to 100, actively using social media every single day. All you have to do is find your little niche of audiences you can target, generate enough business to get growing, and then expand into other segments.

I applied this myself. In the beginning I could help any business win the marketing game. If you wanted attention, I could help you. But people who didn't know me, who didn't trust me yet, heard a general broad statement and moved on. So I created what I called a medical funnel. I'd had a lot of success helping doctors, chiropractors, functional medicine practitioners, because of my experience in the health space with my father and my own health brand. So I could say: if you're a medical doctor or a chiropractor, I can help you build a funnel that turns attention into leads and new patients. Talking to them specifically generated far more interested audiences than talking to everybody.

Before you form your message, answer three questions. Who is this for? What problem do they have that you can solve? What result do they want? 'We help businesses grow' is too general. 'We help roofing companies generate more leads' gets attention. The richest are in the niches. Focus on one thing, get really good at it, then expand. That's exactly what I did. Today I cover physical products, lead generation, services of all kinds. But I didn't start like that.

Mistake 3: Not Tracking Results

So many businesses run marketing but never measure what works. They don't know which content generates leads. They don't know which ads bring customers. They don't know what actually drives revenue. They're guessing.

Start simple. Ask every new lead: how did you hear about us? Whether you can track it digitally or not, get that information directly from the consumer. That's first-party data, straight from the source, instead of relying only on tracking systems. Then use different links for different campaigns: Facebook, emails, ads. I personally use a software called Hyros for attribution, and I'm not affiliated with them, that's just what I use. It doesn't matter which tool you pick. You have to use something to create attribution.

Send traffic to specific landing pages so you know what brought people in. And split test. Tools like Shopify and many other e-commerce platforms let you send half the traffic one direction and half the other, and after enough data you see which one performs better. That way you're not judging based on a romantic idea in your head. You're judging based on data. When you know what your marketing is actually responsible for, you do more of what works and less of what doesn't.

Mistake 4: Ignoring Search Visibility

I love to do this once in a while: I search for my own companies. AGM, Attention Grabbing Media, am I showing up? My brands, are they showing up? On social media, on Google, even on ChatGPT. Am I showing up where people are searching?

Many business websites are invisible. They don't come up as results when people are querying to solve their problems. The fix is to create content people are already searching for. How to fix blank. Best way to blank. Cost of blank. Turn those into articles, videos, and social posts. When people search for answers, your content shows up. That's visibility working for you around the clock.

Mistake 5: Not Following Up With Leads

Remember, this is a long-term journey. People have to see you sometimes seven, ten, fifteen, twenty-five times before they trust you enough to open up their wallets. If you generate a lead and don't follow up because you're only looking for instant gratification, you're missing the real value of building a business.

I've serviced many clients over the years who try to close a lead right then and there, and if they don't close, they forget about them instead of nurturing them. Take a real example, a client of mine in the roofing industry. A lead comes in, but the person doesn't feel the roof is in bad enough condition yet. Not that interesting today. But if you follow up with emails and text messages and stay in communication, at some point that roof is going to be in a lot more trouble. Maybe there's a hail storm. At that moment, you want to be the first name on their mind.

So follow up is essential. Welcome emails, tips in the first few days, case studies, offers, value, testimonials, consistency. It is a never-ending journey. I've had people on my email list for five years before they purchased something. Five years. If I had given up after one email, that revenue never happens. Fix these five mistakes and you're no longer guessing at marketing. You're playing the game with a strategy, and strategy is how wars are won.