7 Reasons You're Not Growing Online
#1: You’re Too Busy
One of the main reasons why you’re not growing online - you're way too busy, yet you're doing everything yourself. You might be staying up late, doing extra work.
You might be the owner, but also the sales person. You might be doing some of the marketing work and then some of this other work. It's understandable.
When you are beginning a business and you’re at a point where you don't need to be doing that and you're still doing it. It's a big issue. Don't do everything yourself: delegate and elevate.
#2: You're Confused
Digital marketing is hard. Growing online is hard. What you need to do is start learning about it or start finding people who can help you learn about it because marketing and online growth can really be confusing. There is a lot going on, but until you learn or find someone to help you with these things, you're not going to see the growth that you are after. And we'll get back to why that is shortly.
#3: Trust Isn't There
You might not trust the provider that you're working with, they might just feel a bit off, or you simply may not know what's going on. My suggestion - you need to be looking for someone that you can create an empathetic relationship with - that's what it's all about.
If you can trust the people you're working with and you know that they care about you and your business, you're going to start seeing the growth online.
#4: Lazy Provider
Another type of similar situation - you have a lazy provider. Don't stand a bad relationship, just get out of it. That's personal and business advice. If the person is not committed to your cause, if they're not working with you, they're not worth it. They will not help you grow.
#5: Bad Results
When talking about why you’re not growing online, the same goes for the results - if the results aren't really there, if things are kind of just fiddling around, get out of that relationship and find something for you that works.
#6: Being Sold all the Things
Are you being sold all the things? “Video marketing is amazing - just do that. No, SEO is amazing, just do that. No! Email marketing is amazing, you have to try that!”
There are so many things that you can be sold in order to grow online and you aren't even being sold all of them. And I know one thing for sure - it is confusing.
I understand you need to trust someone who has done it all, or at least look for providers that are in a holistic sense, offering lots of things or know about lots of things.
My cousin and I ran an agency for 4 years before we sold it and we did a lot of things. The way we structured it was that we made sure we came on board and offered holistic ways of looking at things as opposed to just the usual “my one way is the best way” approach or “we'll do everything for you” attitude. So just be aware of those things and make sure you're working with someone who first and foremost, looks out for you as a brand and understands what might be required for you, as opposed to “my things”, “the best,” or “everything for you.”
#7: Marketing is Too Expensive
I would say that marketing is too expensive. I've heard this over and over and over again: “we tried ads for a while - it didn't work. So we cut them off because they were too expensive.” Or “We’re better off if we do X, Y, Z.” The issue with this way of thinking is the opportunity cost of not getting out there and building your brand. Or if you are already doing that, that’s the cost of not pursuing this further.
Let’s take an example - flower delivery company in Auckland. Check your business name and the service area, which in your case is Auckland. If you're not ranking in the top three, you're potentially losing out on hundreds or even thousands of potential leads per month, which is, hundreds to thousands to tens of thousands or more dollars per month.
The same goes if you're not actively advertising on social platforms - you're missing out on all that reach while other businesses and competitors in your area are actively reaching their customers. The same goes for email marketing.
So, there's a large opportunity cost to be considered here. Don't let yourself play small, make sure you're considering everything to actually grow online.
Conclusion
These are all the possible reasons why you're not growing online: not pursuing, not learning, not pursuing opportunities, and finding someone that you can trust and build an empathetic connection with.
If you're actively building relationships and new ways of trying things, and you're pushing those - you will see growth.
So go out there, get started, get stuck into things, build some good relationships, and grow online.
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