Not sure where to start?

Get custom insights with a FREE PPC Report for your business. You deserve to know exactly where your business stands, and what type of solutions will align best with your business goals.

GET A FREE REPORT

The Biggest Mistake Most Business Owners Make in Lead Generation

August 15, 2023

61% of business owners say that generating traffic & leads is their biggest challenge. If you've been waiting for the phone to ring, you know this feeling all too well.

Thankfully, this prevalent obstacle tends to stem from a straightforward concern.

The Cause

Aside from an improperly run business, improperly run marketing is the main cause for lessened traffic & leads. A well-done & maintained marketing campaign can help you find & remain in front of your ideal audience.

Even if you sell an excellent service & have the best rates or quality, you'll struggle to find new customers without marketing.

Even if cash flow is an issue, you won't have much income to manage without marketing.

Even in a shifting economy, most services are still in high demand, so you should be marketing.

The Gist

Marketing is telling your ideal audience that you have a solution to their problem & motivating them to trade their money for it.

Concerning start-up & operations, marketing should fall just between your branding & sales strategies:

Concerning sales funnels, marketing is the kick-off phase long before a client is landed:

The Biggest Mistake

What do most companies do when business is slow, or the economy shifts? You've seen it & you've probably done it:

They dive head-first into fear mode.

They restrict their marketing budgets as a seemingly sage attempt to save money, & thus, keep their businesses “safe”. But, who can blame them? When times get tough, it certainly is wiser to refine your expenses.

However, decreasing or removing the funding for what beacons your clients towards you typically ends poorly.

This great business mistake then causes cash flow problems. And, 82% of failed businesses state that cash flow problems were the leading cause of their doors closing earlier than they'd ever imagined.

The Types

Since the 1990s, during the rise of the internet, marketing has been categorized into two methods: Traditional & Digital.

Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing can is considered print or offline marketing. It was the only form of marketing available before digital marketing. It still has some benefits today.

Traditional marketing methods include:

- Print Listings (ex: phone book & directories)

- Direct Mail (ex: postcards, brochures, letters, & flyers)

- Print Ads (ex: magazines, newspapers, & billboards)

- Referrals

- Trade Shows

- Radio Ads

- Television Ads

If your ideal audience regularly uses these methods, include traditional marketing in your marketing strategy.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing can be defined as online marketing. Most marketing today is executed digitally.

Digital marketing methods include:

- Online Listings - Web pages that display your business's information on directory or review websites. (ex: Google My Business, Yelp, or BBB)

- Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - An umbrella term used for any activity intended to improve how easy it is to find your website via a search engine (includes PPC & SEO methods).

- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - The process of improving the quality and quantity of organic traffic to your website or web page from search engines.

- Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) - An internet advertising model used to drive traffic to your website or web page where you only pay the publisher/platform when your ad is clicked.

- Social Media Marketing (SMM) - The use of social media platforms to promote your product or service.

- Content Marketing - A form of marketing centered on producing, publishing, and dispersing content for your target audience online. The objective is to provide useful & relevant information in order to delight users and attract them to your brand (newsletters, podcasts, blog articles, social media posts, & videos).

- Email Marketing - The act of sending a commercial message via email to a person or group of people.

- Affiliate Marketing - A marketing agreement where your business pays an external website a commission for the traffic or sales generated from its referrals.

- Influencer Marketing - An arranged form of social media marketing involving sponsorships & product placement from people & organizations who have an expert level of knowledge &/or social influence in their field.

Which Type is Best?

Traditional Marketing Pros & Cons

Pros

- Somewhat Familiar

- Less of a Learning Curve

- Somewhat Less Expensive

Cons

- Harder to Target Ideal Clients

- Harder to Your Measure Marketing Data

- Harder to Prove ROI

Digital Marketing Pros & Cons

Pros

- Easier to Target Ideal Clients

- Easier to Measure Marketing Data

- Easier to Optimize

- Easier to Prove ROI

- Gets Your Brand in Front of More & Most Audiences

Cons

- Less Familiar

- Somewhat of a Learning Curve

- Somewhat More Expensive

- Ever-Changing Algorithms

Which Is Best?

Digital marketing was designed to improve upon the traditional marketing process. As people started spending more time online, the need for online advertising grew to remain in front of them.

When you need to obtain new leads quickly or stand out in a competitive market, digital marketing is the way to go. The time-saving accuracy & precise analytics that digital marketing offers are unparalleled.

Let's Get Started.

92% of small business owners still believe a website is the most effective digital marketing strategy.

And 39% of marketers say they find proving marketing activities' ROI challenging.

At Titan O'Neal™, we believe that obtaining new business in today's digital world shouldn't be confusing or exhausting. We provide lead generating services & wisdom to service businesses so that they can:

- Increase Qualified Leads

- Focus On What They Do Best

- Scale Better & Faster

If you need More Leads with Less Work, we are here to help.