Web Marketing offers many opportunities to brands, companies and business owners, but some obstacles are often overlooked, which every entrepreneur must consider and face to obtain concrete results from digital marketing activities.
The first meetings in the company with entrepreneurs are usually very long: I ask them to explain the history of the company, the peculiarities of their products or services, what distinguishes them from the competition, who their target is (current and potential). I ask numerous questions because, before acting on the digital front, before putting all the energies and resources into the field, before moving from theory to action, it is necessary to establish a marketing and communication strategy .
I realized that there are some problems that most of the entrepreneurs I have met so far do not ask themselves or do not care too much about: they are fundamental aspects, which I will explain to you immediately, which must be addressed immediately, to understand if the are, want/can get into online marketing.
There is no underlying marketing strategy.
By strategy I mean:
- you don't know your current goal well (interests, sociodemographic data, average spending capacity, etc.);
- not sure about the policies de Prices of your product or service;
- You don't know how to create and take advantage of promotions ;
- your goals are not clear : What do you want to achieve in 6 months? In 1 year? In 3 years?
- you are not sure of your positioning in the market
I will give you a concrete example.
A local business, from the province of Cremonese. This store, in previous years, owned by other owners, had always been perceived by customers as exclusive, in the sense that the prices were high and it was frequented only by a small circle of people, who could afford to spend not exactly average figures. . for personal care.
The new owner has three main objectives and priorities:
- make the store accessible to everyone , thus guaranteeing the highest quality but at an affordable cost for most people;
- attract customers from the surrounding area , to the neighboring provinces of Parma, Mantua and Reggio Emilia;
- focus on a new customer segment : young and very young.
Short-term goals (within 1 year) are clear and well-defined (long-term goals are not, but that's another story).
The problem is the lack of underlying analysis and strategy:
- The customer wants the store to be accessible to everyone, but still thinks about commercial proposals and promotions with too high costs . For example, a treatment for a couple starts at €200 for 1 hour and a half: at this price, isn't it convenient to get away from the province and dedicate a whole day of wellness to the spa? Within a few kilometers from the salon, it is possible to reach different towns in the hills, on the lake or towards the mountains that offer similar packages at the same (or sometimes even cheaper) costs. With the beauty of detaching yourself with your mind (leaving the house) and observing the wonder of a different landscape and savoring a new atmosphere.
- The client wants to attract local customers, but has never done anything to act on this front. What drives a person who lives 20 km or 40-45 km away to go so far to get their hair or beauty service when they would have the same services in the country they live in? What button do I have to press so that it arrives to me despite having to face two costs (gasoline and time)?
- The client wants to focus not only on the current target of adults and the elderly, but also on the young and very young. The costs, however, are certainly not affordable for a low-spending public. Special occasions for young people have never been thought of, for example, taking advantage of certain anniversaries or consumption occasions. If young people go to the salon's social networks, such as Facebook and Instagram, to date, they only find photos of folds and hairstyles of clients between 35 and 65 years old. How can a young person, who first goes to search for the salon on social networks, have an idea of the service you can offer?
Believing that communication means sales
Communication is an investment.
The main objective of online marketing is visibility and awareness, therefore brand awareness and awareness. How can you think about selling if no one knows the needs your product or service satisfies?
Sales are a consequence of online marketing , thanks to which the company should certainly notice an increase in contact requests, clients, billing, but the increase in billing cannot depend exclusively on Web Marketing activities.
When the owner of the salon asked me: “If I invest €10 a day in Facebook advertising for 3 months, I have to make sure that all the people enter the store in that period of time.” I stopped him immediately and told him: “certainly by outlining the campaign objective well, working with copy and visuals, doing tests we will be able to achieve excellent results also in terms of performance / costs, but I will never be able to guarantee you to obtain a certain result or tell you how many people They will walk into the store to get their hair done after seeing your Facebook ad. We don't even have a historian to draw conclusions from. A priori it is not possible to determine the number of real income that you will be able to obtain.
Thinking that counseling is the solution to all problems.
I, like many consultants, offer two alternatives to my potential clients:
- strategic consulting
- operational consulting
With the first, I create the company's strategy and provide daily advice on how the company should move online in the areas of my competence. Then there is someone in the company who is specifically in charge of transforming strategy into action.
With the second one, however, I also take care of the operations, so I take charge of the project myself.
Small entrepreneurs often choose strategy consulting because they are convinced that they can then take over operations completely. It's a shame that many times it's not like that. , because they neglect the fact that to obtain tangible results on the Web, you need perseverance, dedication and commitment and you cannot relegate activities to the night before the store closes.
Additionally, the consultant's advice should be followed. It is essential that the client carefully follows the consultant's instructions to avoid, for example, publications containing typographical errors or having an image that is not relevant to the text.
Consulting cannot be the solution to all problems: thinking about getting advice and directives from the consultant, but then not applying them, cannot lead to the desired results.
