The most common marketing mistakes business owners make relate to the online environment they fail to adapt to. Strengthening the online identity is critical nowadays for companies wishing to reach more awareness, visibility and trust. Here are 5 common mistakes business owners make in terms of strategic marketing.

1. Oh, you don’t have a blog yet? Hmm…

“A blog is a website with frequently updated content about a specific keyword- or bottom-line-oriented topic.” If you think blogs are something you don’t need, you’re wrong. No matter what type of industry you are in, blogging is a brilliant way to reach your target audience with educational information that they are actually searching for. According to HubSpot, companies that blog get 55% more web traffic and 70% more leads than the ones that don’t. Isn’t that a nice incentive? In a nutshell, blogs are good for your business for two major reasons. First, they help create trust between you and your consumers (and all stakeholders). Secondly, they improve your search ranking and web traffic.

2. Social Media doesn’t apply to your business?

Wrong. In Ireland alone, there are 2,400,000 active Facebook users, and the average Irish person spends nearly 20 hours a week on the web, that means that more than half the country, spends a seventh of their busy week on the web.

Let’s take a step back. When you enter a shop and you have a question, you ask the question and the employee gives you an answer. Why should your online presence be any different? Social media is the area of the internet where you can interact with each and every single one of your customers on a 1 to 1 basis. Consumers love when a company interacts with all the feedback that they get, whether that feedback is positive or negative. Consumers want to see that there are people behind your great brand. Interaction brings humanisation, and humanisation, brings happy and trusting customers.

3. You have no idea what your keywords are.

Finding your keywords is one of the most important, and valuable things you can do in terms of your own marketing strategy. Ranking the right keywords can make or break your website. Start by doing keyword research (Google’s Keyword tool) is a great way to do keyword research). When trying to find your own keywords, put yourself in your target visitors’ shoes, think of what they would search if they wanted to find someone in your industry, try and have as many keywords as possible. Focus on long-tail keywords, rather than short-tail. For example, if you are a company that sells shoes and you are trying to find out the best keywords for your business, you might find that “shoes” is a highly competitive keyword. But “shoes for women Ireland” is a long-tail keyword with a lower difficulty rank.

 4. Still using those cliché Marketing taglines?

Consumers like being spoken to as friends, not as customers. They like personalised messages, fun and clear propositions that tell them your brand can be trusted and does not treat every customer exactly the same. Taglines such as “We go the extra mile” or “We do –this and that- so you don’t have to” make readers roll their eyes. You don’t want to tell your audience what they have to do or that you go the extra mile (for them); they won’t care. Some of the world’s most popular brands demonstrate this clearly. Apple, for example, hasn’t used “Think Differently” in years. Instead, they are spreading messages like: “What will your verse be?”, “All the music you love. And will love”, “All the power you want. All day long”. You should tell them straight out what you as a brand are bringing to their benefit  and why they should love you– clear, concise and preferably funny statements.

 5. Updating my website? Mobile optimisation? Huh?

Your website is out of date? Well, that’s just wrong. If you want to meet your online marketing goals (and offline ones, too) you have to make sure you are using the best online features that not only increase your chances for the best ROI, but also give you a competitive advantage. The online world is a fast-paced environment, where you can’t afford to be left behind. Nowadays, businesses should also seriously consider mobile-optimising their website to look great on any device. More and more people access websites from their smartphones or tablets and purchases frequently occur from good mobile marketing efforts.