90% of startups fail.
That is a sad reality revealed in one of Fortune.com’s articles.
The same article also mentions that the main reason why these companies decided to close down was due to the lack of a “market need.” The reason accounted for 42% of the analyzed responses of the surveyed startups.
#mindblown
Of course, that’s just one of the many reasons why startups fail.
I’d hate to be the ones to say this, but there are truckloads of other things that can cause a startup to shutdown.
In this guide, we’re going to talk about 3 of them — the brutal marketing mistakes that startups are making, I mean.
I’m hoping that at the end of this guide, you’d see these mistakes for what they truly are; and try to avoid them like your life depended on it.
Let’s hop right in.
1. Not optimizing your website for conversion.
Some startups can be so gung-ho about generating website traffic, that they fail to see the point of it all.
All sizzle and no steak.
That’s basically how a website is if it has tons of traffic but has no leads or sales.
Let’s make one thing clear: Having tons of traffic isn’t going to do your startup any good if none of them are going to buy your services.
At the end of the day, you’ll pay your employees (and other business expenses) with money and not your website’s monthly visitors.
Econsultancy says, “For every $92 spent acquiring customers, only $1 is spent converting them.”
The figure alone is a tell-tale sign of how businesses are neglecting to optimize their websites for conversion.
If you are dead serious about getting more leads and sales to grow your startup, then you need to put as much emphasis in converting your web visitors into actual paying customers.
“How then do I convert my web traffic into paying customers?”
If you’re asking yourself that very same question right now, then you can use these 2 tips:
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Use webinars to establish trust.
Webinars are such powerhouses when it comes to converting your audience into paying customers since it makes your engagement with them a lot more transparent.
Since your audience can hear your voice (even see you), then they’d be able to tell if you truly believe in your product, or if you’re just faking it.
The moment they sense that you are a true believer of the product that you’re promoting, their hesitation towards not buying would decrease drastically.
Of course, this can lead to you getting more sales.
The good news is, running webinars is dead easy.
You can use a webinar app like Clickmeeting since the platform is very easy to use, it has tons of nifty features, and it even has a 30-day free trial (no credit cards needed, by the way).
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Create and develop great content.
Statistics show that 78% of consumers trust brands that create more customized content.
The more value-packed content you share with your audience, the more trustworthy you become in their sight.
The more they trust you, the easier it becomes for them to buy from you since you are no longer a stranger to them.
2. Limiting your marketing campaigns to only one channel.
Sadly, there are several startups who are thinking of using only one channel to target their audience.
For example, if the startup is about mobile apps, they’d often only limit their marketing channel to mobile phones.
While that might seem OK at first glance, there’s a critical flaw in the strategy if you’ll give it a bit more thought.
Here’s a fact that you can consider: Not everyone in the world uses mobile phones 24/7, nor are their smartphones connected to the internet all the time.
If you only limit your marketing campaign to one medium (in our example’s case, mobile phones), then you’ll miss out on a lot of people that could have potentially been interested in your services.
To address this situation, the best advice I can give you is for you to use cross-channel integrations to make the most of your marketing campaigns.
Let’s take a look at LinkTexting — a platform for cross-channel integrations.
In a nutshell, LinkTexting is a service that funnels people using web browsers from their laptops or personal computers to your application’s mobile sales page (e.g. specific page in Google Play Store or Apple iTunes).
The platform does two things:
- First, it places a customizable widget anywhere on your website that allows prospects to input their cell phone numbers; and,
- Second, it sends these individuals a link of your mobile application sales page to the numbers that they’ve inputted.
Using tools like Linktexting will allow you to reach more people — giving you the chance to garner more leads for your startup which you can eventually convert into sales in the future.
3. Poorly written call-to-actions and subject lines.
Watch what you write.
Do not — and I mean, DO NOT — construct poorly written subjects lines and headlines.
Statistics show that 35% of readers open emails based on the subject line alone. What’s even worse is 69% of readers also report emails as spam based on the subject line alone.
This means that with a poorly constructed subject line, your email address can potentially get flagged by your prospects as spam.
The more your emails are flagged as “spam” by your prospects, the more your IP address gets wrecked.
Of course, the same concept goes for your headlines and your call-to-actions (CTAs).
- Poorly written headlines can result to a lesser amount of people clicking your blog entry and reading your content.
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Poorly worded CTAs can translate to your readers getting confused after reading your content.
When your readers are confused about what they should do next after reading your article, they tend to click away.
When that happens, then you’d have missed your chance to convert your content readers into paying customers.
Here are four quick tips on how you can optimize your subject lines, headlines, and CTAs you write:
- Keep your copy brief.
- Use sharp action verbs.
- Remove redundant words.
- Add a benefit.
Why most startups fail?
14% of startups fail as a result of poor marketing
What’s next?
What are some of the worst marketing mistakes that you’ve ever done?
How did your audience react to it and how did it impact your business?
Please take the time to share your experience in the comments section below. Cheers!
