One simple mistake that will make all of your marketing worthless

Most businesses spend a lot of time and money marketing, whether it’s something they pay an agency to do or do themselves.

Whether it is their website and SEO, flyers and brochures, networking meetings, Google Ads, social media marketing, cold calling, promotional mugs, vehicle wraps, all of these have one single point of failure, and unfortunately, a lot of businesses have this, especially during the pandemic. This can pretty much stop the vast majority of this marketing from working, costing businesses customers, and wasting their money.

Let’s explain this by way of a story…

A few years ago, we were approached by a business and asked to quote to sort out their SEO and website as they weren’t getting enquiries.

After a bit of research, we concluded that their SEO was in fact decent, and their website, although far from perfect, was workable. So, with permission from a partner, we embarked on something sneaky.

We used fake accounts to make ten enquiries over the phone, email and the website’s contact forms. All of these were to different departments. A week later, only two out of the ten enquiries had a reply.

Here’s the thing, when you’re looking for a supplier you’ll allocate some time, do some research, make some enquiries to a few companies, and then wait for a response. Those who don’t reply are not considered. Usually, people only keep trying to get in touch if they really want to do businesses with you specifically.

So, in short, this company was throwing away around 80% of their custom and wasting 80% of their marketing budget.

Our advice to them was to forget websites and SEO, and to get another receptionist!

We got the job anyway!

With people working from home during the pandemic this is happening more, and many businesses are missing out on work.

So, the single point of failure is not answering enquiries in a timely manner. This alone can stop your marketing from being effective.

This can be as simple as answering the phone and, if you miss a call, calling the number back even if they don’t leave a voicemail. But also replying to emails, even if it’s a simple “All received, we’ll be in touch in 24 hours”.

There’s no point spending thousands on a website or digital marketing if you don’t take advantage of what it brings you.

So, a top tip would be to think of how persistent you would be choosing a supplier; would you keep trying one that won’t answer, or move to the next? If you’d move on, then think whether you do this in your own business, or even better, get someone to secretly test you when you least expect it!

We are Webbed Feet, we answer enquiries