5 Common Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make

Amber Hollier • July 26, 2023

Marketing is a crucial aspect of any small business's growth and success. Yet, despite its significance, many small businesses unknowingly stumble into common pitfalls that can hinder their marketing efforts. Together we will explore five prevalent mistakes that small businesses often make when navigating the marketing landscape. By understanding and avoiding these missteps, business owners can pave the way for more effective and impactful marketing strategies.


Having No Website or a Poorly Designed Website

As a small business your online presence is a vital component to reaching your target audience and establishing credibility. If you already have a website, it's crucial to assess its functionality and comprehensiveness. Remember, a poorly designed website can be more detrimental than having no website at all. Research shows that users form an impression about your website within half a second, and 75% of them judge your company's credibility solely based on its design. Additionally, with more than half of global website traffic coming from mobile phones, ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is imperative, as nearly 60% of people won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site.


Spamming

Yes, building brand awareness is an important part of marketing your product or service. However, oversaturating your feed with constant promotion can backfire in the long run. According to a survey by GoodFirms, 42% of users unfollow brands that excessively publish content. This is why we recommend multiple outlets to disseminate your brand messaging as opposed to relying on just one or two. This way, your information can be strategically spread out without fatiguing your audience and losing potential customers. Content planning tools are a great resource for effective content planning strategies.


Unaware of Competition

Monitoring your competition is a valuable tactic that can allow you insight into their successes and failures, offering you the opportunity to learn from others experiences, avoid similar pitfalls, and gain valuable knowledge to differentiate and excel in your industry. Additionally, this approach helps you stay ahead of trends, pricing, and new opportunities, ensuring a competitive edge in the market.


No Written Marketing Strategy

Not having a marketing strategy could be setting you back more than you know. One study found that marketers with a written out content marketing strategy were twice as likely to say their marketing was effective compared to those without one. The couple of hours it takes to write out a plan are well worth the ability to claim that your marketing has made a positive and impactful difference to your business. Moreover, when you have a written marketing strategy, measuring your results becomes more straightforward since you have clear objectives to track and compare against.


Neglecting Your Target Audience

Neglecting your target audience can be a huge roadblock in achieving your goals. When your message lacks clarity and consistency for the right audience, you run the risk of missing out on potential clients and damaging the credibility and trust in your brand. Identifying the pain points, preferences, and needs of your consumers are vital aspects of running an effective marketing campaign.


By learning from these missteps and embracing an effective marketing strategy, businesses can build a stronger brand, connect with their target audience, and drive sustainable growth. As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, staying vigilant and adaptive will be key to overcoming challenges and making the most of opportunities. Triangle Printing and Marketing in Houston, TX can help you do all of this and more by assisting you in the development of a strategic marketing plan that drives optimal results.

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Why You’re Not Getting Google Reviews (and How to Fix It)

By Amber Hollier • June 17, 2025
Online reviews are as good as gold for any business. Google Reviews add to your credibility and directly impact how easily potential customers find you online. But here’s the hard truth: many companies struggle to collect reviews, even when they have plenty of happy customers. If your business isn’t getting the reviews you deserve, here’s why...and, more importantly, how to turn that around. 1. You’re Not Asking — Or Not Asking The Right Way It might sound obvious, but a huge reason companies don’t get Google Reviews is simply because they don’t ask. Many satisfied customers assume you don’t need their feedback unless you tell them otherwise. Even worse, if you only ask once and in an inconvenient way, customers are likely to forget. How to Fix It: Make asking for reviews a consistent, simple part of your customer communication. Train your staff to ask after a purchase or successful service. Include a polite, clear request in follow-up emails or invoices. A direct line like, “Your feedback means the world to us — would you mind leaving a quick review?” goes a long way. 2. It’s Too Hard to Leave a Review If your customers have to hunt for your business on Google, find the right link, and log in, you’re asking too much. The more steps involved, the fewer reviews you’ll get. How to Fix It: Create a direct link and/or generate a QR code that goes straight to your Google Review page. Google provides a special URL that takes customers directly to the review box. Add this link to your website, email signature, thank-you pages, front desk, and receipts. The easier you make it, the more likely people are to follow through. 3. You Don’t Follow Up People are busy. Even happy customers forget to leave reviews when life gets in the way. Many businesses ask once and never remind customers again. How to Fix It: Automate a gentle follow-up. Send a reminder a few days after your first request. Use simple, friendly language that expresses genuine appreciation for their time. Tools like email marketing platforms or CRMs can help you schedule this automatically. 4. You’re Not Showcasing Reviews Believe it or not, customers are more likely to leave reviews when they see others doing it. This is a lot like how customers are more likely to leave tips when they see a few dollars already in the tip jar. If your Google profile looks empty, people may feel their effort won’t make a difference. How to Fix It: Highlight existing positive reviews on your website, social media, and in-store signage. This builds trust with potential customers and encourages others to join in. 5. You Don’t Have a Company Culture That Values Reviews Sometimes the problem starts within the business. If your team doesn’t see reviews as a priority, they won’t remember to ask customers consistently. How to Fix It: Make reviews part of your company culture. Celebrate great feedback in team meetings and share positive reviews with your staff. Recognize employees who help generate the most reviews...a little internal competition never hurts! Start Growing! More Google Reviews means more trust, more clicks, and ultimately more business. By making it easy, asking consistently, and showing appreciation, your company can increase their online visibility and credibility. Need printed thank-you cards with a QR code that links straight to your Google Review page? We can help! Bring your happy customers into the heart of your marketing.