When it comes to marketing, the devil is in the details. Sometimes, the smallest thing awry can greatly impact the results of your marketing. Fortunately, small mistakes are also often easy fixes. You just need to know what to look for. So use this post as a checklist before your next campaign to ensure you’ve got everything juuuust right.
6 Small Mistakes to Avoid
Forgetting to link to your practice.
When you’ve got someone’s attention on social media, and they’re sufficiently interested in you and want to check out your business, what’s the next step? A visit to your website, of course! Unless you don’t have a link to your website listed. People on the Internet are lazy, and if they have to take the extra step of actually Googling your practice, they might not make it that far. Plus, every social network allows you to list your website in your profile description. When they make it so easy, there’s no excuse not to include it. Maybe right now you’re thinking, oh shoot! I don’t remember! Did I list my practice website on our Instagram account? Not to worry! Go do a quick check. We’ll be here when you get back.
Not posting your hours.
Research has shown that 54% of people performing local searches are looking for business hours. That’s a majority! You’re doing your practice a huge disservice if you don’t list your hours on the homepage of your website. (Pssst! WebDVM4 websites list your hours on every page. Just one of the many reasons our websites rock!) To take this one step further, you should also be posting them on Facebook and Google (if you haven’t set up your Google My Business account, now’s the time). Don’t make people hunt for the information they need. The faster they find it, the more likely they are to pick your practice for their pet’s care.
Failing to include a call-to-action.
Whether you’re creating content for your website or running your practice Facebook Page, if you’re not including calls-to-action in your posts, you’re overlooking an important marketing opportunity. When you create marketing materials that you want people to act on, you need to tell them what they should do next. For example, if you’re writing a blog post on obesity in cats, include a call-to-action at the end of the post inviting readers to bring their pets in if they have concerns. If you’re posting about your practice often on Facebook, but never share a link to visit your site, then you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity. Not everything has to be promotional, but if you’re never promoting, then you’re doing your practice a major disservice.
Forgetting to keep things updated.
It’s always a little disorienting to visit a small business’ website in June and see a banner for Christmas hours. In some cases, if the banner is really old (say a couple of years), it actually makes me question if they’re still in business. It can also be disappointing to visit a company’s social media page, only to find they haven’t posted anything in months. It’s especially disheartening when they have really great content that you want to see more of. Staying on top of things can be challenging, especially when you’re busy running your practice. But it’s also very important. If you’re struggling to keep up, consider scheduling a small amount of time into your week to focus on social media and your website. It doesn’t have to be long. As long as you keep it regular, you’re succeeding.
Failing to renew your domain name.
This one could be a doozy. Your domain name is essentially the land on which you park your website, and you can’t buy; you can only rent. What would happen if one day your clients drove up to your practice building, only to find that it was gone? This is essentially what happens digitally when you let your domain expire. With your website down, you’re missing out on the opportunity to introduce yourself to new clients, or provide important information to existing ones. Even worse, if you leave it for too long, someone else could actually purchase your domain name, forcing you to get a new one and start from scratch. Avoid the risks and keep on top of your domain name. Or, if you’re a LifeLearn client, sit back and relax, because we’ve got your domain name covered!
Sharing the full URL.
Let’s face it. URLs are ugly. They’re a long jumble of letters and symbols mixed together, and they take up an unnecessary amount of space. And if you’re keeping them at full length in your posts, you’re very likely reducing the number of clicks you get. We use bit.ly to shorten our URLs at LifeLearn, but every once in a while, a full-length URL slips in, and those posts often generate fewer clicks than the regular ones. It’s amazing what a difference such a small thing can make.
The good news is, there are easy ways to share URLs without cluttering up your posts. Platforms like Facebook take care of that for you. If you paste a URL into Facebook, it generates a link preview. You can then delete the URL, because the link preview sticks around, even after the URL is gone. On platforms that don’t make it as easy as Facebook, you’ll need to use a URL shortener. These handy websites make it very quick and easy to cut a URL down to something manageable. As an added bonus, some of these services will also track clicks on your URLS!
Making spelling and grammar mistakes.Â
Mistakes happen, and in writing, they happen a lot. A few mistakes every once in a blue moon is not ideal but not the end of the world. However, if your copy is littered with errors, it could have an impact on your results. When your copy has a few too many spelling and grammar mistakes, it can call into question your legitimacy and attention to detail, which can drive potential customers to search out more attentive businesses. f you’re concerned about your own spelling/grammar abilities, ask someone to read over your copy before you publish. It’s a quick way to check your work and make sure you’re putting your best out into the world.In the grand scheme of things, none of these mistakes are particularly large or damaging. However, the small details add up over time, and they can make a difference in how effective your marketing is. So before you publish your next content marketing piece or big campaign, take a quick minute to make sure you’re not making any of these of these minor mistakes. It will be worth the trouble!
