There a lot of options when it comes to marketing your company, from the necessary (having a website) to the advanced (proper brand reputation management). There are many ways you can do this marketing, depending on how much time and money you have. One thing we’ve seen that universally fails (and can in fact even harm your marketing and your reputation) is automated marketing.  From unmaintained websites, to automated advertising, to unengaged social media – if you set and forget your marketing, you’re putting your business in danger. Let’s explore four critical areas not to be ignored (and why).

Marketing Plans: They Don’t Self-Correct

At the core of any marketing is a marketing plan. If you’re just starting, this might be as simple as “writing a blog” or “starting a social media account for your company.” You budget time and money; you run some ads; you get a new website. But how is any of that affecting your bottom line? Do you know what’s working and what’s not?  How?  What will you do about it?  When building a real marketing plan, it’s important to analyze the outcome of your strategies and make changes accordingly. Otherwise, you may be throwing time and money away while you miss what did or didn’t work. Not only that, but it can lead to your marketing being inconsistent with your brand.

Social Media:  It’s Useless without Engagement

Your social media presence shouldn’t be only about posts and shouting into the Social Media arena, or solely about backlinks – it should be another way of communicating with your customers and your larger audience (your potential customers). Because of this, it’s important to monitor and engage in your social media platforms to make sure you can see and interact with users sharing and commenting on your posts, keeping your content topic with the times, and capitalizing on trending topics. Building your brand on social media can’t just be posting: you have to communicate.

Ad Analytics:  You Waste Money Without Review

Advertising online is both the easiest and hardest form of marketing. Easy because you are guaranteed clicks and website visits, hard because you need to make sure you’re investing your money into getting the right people. Especially with platforms like Facebook removing targeting after data scandals, it’s important not only to set up great campaigns but also monitor their progression and success. You need to stay on top of what’s happening with the tool you’ve invested in, the competitive landscape, current affairs and results so you can pivot accordingly. After all, if you don’t, you could be throwing lots of money away and not even realize it.

Website: Ignoring Your Website Will Hurt It

Lastly, let’s talk about websites. For this article, we’ll put aside the need for a new website every X number of years to keep up with new technology demands and design trends, and solely focus on proper maintenance and attention. Here are 4 places where neglecting it can hurt (or even kill) your website:

• Website Maintenance: Your website is a collection of systems, backends, and databases working in concert. Without regular maintenance, you might wake up to a dead website, or one with large problems that are stopping users from contacting or even paying you.
• Is It Mobile Responsive: Mobile devices are becoming the rule, not the exception when it comes to viewing websites. How does your website look on phones? You could be turning off a large potential user base with a mobile-unfriendly website.
• Hosting Your Website: Do you know your website’s uptime? How about its load time? Have these improved or worsened over time? If you don’t know this, your website might suffer. Learn more in our blog, Why Where You Host Your Website Matters.
• New Website Content: Your website should be a living thing, adding content with new ideas, products, and services. If you don’t have a constant stream of new content while your competition does, you may find yourself losing the SEO game, and losing potential sales.

If you’re looking to have active and proactive marketing instead of falling victim to the dangers of set-it-and-forget-it marketing, maybe it’s time to team up. Vision Advertising has been helping businesses manage and expand their marketing, staying ever vigilant on the highlighted topics herein, for two decades. We’re a full-service marketing agency, specializing in comprehensive internet marketing – from websites to social media and everything in-between, to help you not only succeed but thrive. Contact us today to start the discussion and find out what active marketing we can do for you.