We all make mistakes, we're only human. The important thing is we learn from those and avoid them for the next time around. With inbound marketing especially if you are new to it, mistakes will happen. Business 2 Community shares 7 things to avoid when creating your strategy to help save money and more importantly time.

1. High Expectations.

We all want to have this killer marketing strategy that brings in leads on a consistent basis but let’s be realistic. Unless you are selling a highly recognized product or service, your campaign success will come at a much smaller rate. Inbound marketing requires much more time, effort, and development to be a well oiled machine. If you are looking for a quick fix marketing strategy, inbound is simply not the answer.   

2. Unclear Goals.

Start by understanding your current customer base and don’t be afraid to ask for their feedback. Why did they choose to work with you or how did they come across your business? What type of problems does your product or service help them solve? As you dive into each client, be sure to identify trends and adjust your current strategy.

Give your team something to look forward to. Whether your goal is to capture 20 new emails or increase your social reach by 20%. Keep everyone on the same page to reach your goals. If your team does not know where they are going, it will be very difficult to get there.

Related: 3 Inbound Marketing Strategies to Increase Leads

3. Forgetting What You Have.

What current resources are you using? Whether it’s social media tools such as Hootsuite or a CRM such as Hubspot. Take the time to perform an analysis of what current marketing tools or resources are to better understand where you need to fill the gaps. There is always room for improvement. Whether it’s your website, content strategy, or even emails. Leverage what you currently have before looking other ways to make changes. Trust me, it will benefit you greatly in the long run. You may be looking to try a new tool while your current ones may be just a capable.

4. No Buyer Personas.

This is KEY for inbound marketing. Without this, you will not be able to create the right content for the right users. Create a customer profile that boils down to the details of their challenges, priorities, experiences, and even in-depth personal information. What industry do they work in and what is their job titles? These little details will help create your buyer persona and make it much easier to create those profiles.

Be sure to keep this information up to date trends quickly come and go. At minimum, update your records annually but looking at them every quarter will help you identify the gaps much easier.

5. Missing a Blog.

Does your company have a blog setup? Not having time for it is simply not a valid excuse. There are many sites such as Writer Access, Upwork, or Freelancer that can help with all your writing needs. Now you may not have the budget, but simply updating your blog once a week can be a huge boost in your SEO.

As you publish your blog posts, use social media to help promote and generate more traffic to your website. Your thought leadership will resonate with the right people by adding value and bring attention to your web page.

Related: How to Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy

6. Unhealthy Email Lists.

Whoever told you email marketing is dead, is completely wrong. Email marketing (if lists are up to date), is still one of the most effective ways to reach your current and potential clients. You must ask yourself, when was the last time I updated my list? Are they categorized properly to ensure the right people are getting the right emails? Conduct an email analysis to see what needs to be changed as an unhealthy lists can cause your emails to end up in spam folders.

Be sure to respect those who have unsubscribed to your emails as it will harm your credibility with inboxes. Also be sure to keep an eye out on your bounce rate. The higher the score, the harder it will be to end up in the right folder.

7. Not Lead Nurturing.

What good is it to go to avoid all those mistakes if you are skipping the most important thing: nurturing. Inbound marketing is not about making the quick sale or getting consumers to purchase now. Through your education and thought leadership, you will establish relationships and create a special bond. While they may not necessarily be the ones needing your service or product at the moment, they may know someone who does. Be sure to analyze your contacts and see what stages they are in your sales funnel to understand what information you should be sharing with them.

Now that you have a better understanding of what mistakes to avoid, get started reworking your inbound strategy. Kill the bad habits now before having to pay for them later.  

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