Common Marketing Mistakes We All Make

We've had the opportunity to consult & work alongside many businesses as they take their marketing games to the next level & here are some common mistakes we've seen over the last few years. A lot of these slip-ups have simple fixes, so don’t fret!

STOP MIMICKING EVERYONE AROUND YOU

From logos to colours, designs to images, everything looks the same on your feed, doesn’t it? We all make the mistake – looking at other people for inspiration…and then all of the sudden we all look the same. We have a saying at Bonne Media, “head down, eyes up.” By this, we mean that we want to have our heads down to others’ work, and our eyes on what’s important. What sets me apart? Why I am different than the sea of others in my industry? It’s human nature to want to blend in, (hello, awkward feelings of wanting to sit with the cool kids at school) but to be a successful business you MUST differentiate. Only dead fish go with the flow, don’t be a dead fish.

“ABOUT ME” ISN’T A TROPHY STAND

We want to shout that we won all of these awards and have all of these features, but do our clients even understand them...or care? Do they know what the acronyms are or what the accolades mean, or even what the heck we are saying? Probably not. Do you waste your time stating the obvious? “I love documenting people in love…” Well, duh, you’re a wedding photographer. I hope you love what you do, moving on. If you need help creating an epic “about me” page, send us an email at info@bonnemedia.ca  (Ashley will be in touch with you super quickly!)

ARE YOU YELLING INTO A CLOSET, HOPING TO HEAR AN ECHO?

Somewhere along the way, we thought social media accounts should become a mountain to scream off of, and we stopped trying to talk to the people we were trying to reach. We started shouting into a closet. Your messaging might be falling on deaf ears if you aren’t taking the time to think about who your ideal clients are and how you really, actually need to reach them (and how you would speak to them if you were face to face with them!) Stop shouting from the roof tops, start treating your content like a conversation over coffee, okay?

WE GIVE THE IMPRESSION OUR SERVICES ARE NEGOTIABLE

Oh, the glorious pricing dilemma, it’s age old and haunts each of us. Remember how we all blend in? Our “about me” sections aren’t telling people why we are different, and we all look the same? Yeah, that’s the recipe to being dm’ed asking if we can lower the price. We spend too much time on our websites and Instagram feeds, and we forget that our communication needs to be as well thought out and designed as the stuff we post on the world wide web. When we drop the ball on those initial inquiries we are inviting our potential clients to price shop us and that’s just what they will do!

WE TRY TO RUSH FIXING PROBLEMS

Instead of taking courses or doing the hard work to set ourselves up for success, we think that if we spend a few hundred dollars here and a few hundred there on advertising, our inboxes will fill with inquiries. We hate to break it to you, but you want to reach your ideal clients, not just followers that double tap a picture once and a while. Instead of wasting money on major websites, spend your time really fine-tuning your marketing messaging, your brand, your vision, and your communication! There is no quick fix for the inquiry game, don’t let people trick you into believing that there is.