5 Marketing Mistakes African Small Businesses Make in Their First Year

In the exciting adventure of kickstarting your small business, marketing is your key to success. However, be ready for the bumpy ride, especially in your first year, where the slip-ups can either make you or break you.

If you're gunning for growth, steering clear of the typical blunders that trip up many small businesses is essential. I'll guide you through five of the most common marketing mistakes and, more importantly, how to avoid them.

Buckle up, because by the end of this article, you'll have a clear path to marketing success for your first year in business.

Let's jump right in.

Neglecting a Target Audience

Failing to define a specific target audience means you're essentially marketing to the entire universe. And you know the saying; if you're targeting everybody, you're in fact, targeting nobody.

Without focusing on a particular market segment, your marketing gets scattered, and your messages might not resonate with anyone in particular.

“If you're targeting everybody, you're in fact, targeting nobody...”

The result? Wasted time and money, and a poor return on investment (ROI). For instance, if a local organic food store tries to attract every single person in the neighborhood without honing in on health-conscious consumers, they might miss out on a key customer base.

Solution: Create detailed customer personas. These are semi-fictional representations of your ideal customer or target audience. It is a research tool to better understand how to market to and engage your customers.

To create a customer persona you need:

demographics: Eg. age, gender, income, education, marital status, occupation, race/ethnicity, geographical location.
psychographics: Eg. personality traits, attitudes, beliefs, values, interests, hobbies, opinions, social class, lifestyle choices.
Pain points: Their frustrations with their work.

Use this information to tailor your messaging.

Actionable steps to take:

Interview your existing customers to understand their needs. You can organize online surveys, do a telephone interview or video call.
Look at social media analytics to gather demographic data.
Craft marketing messages and content to speak directly to your personas.

Inconsistent Branding

Using different logos, colors, and tones across various platforms and materials can leave potential customers scratching their heads and mess up your brand image.

Customers might not have much faith in your brand since these inconsistencies can make you seem unprofessional or unreliable. Imagine a café that uses different logos and color schemes on its social media, website, and in-store signs. It can be tough for customers to recognize and remember the brand in all this jumble.

Solution: Develop brand guidelines to be consistent across all marketing materials, both online and offline.

Actionable steps:

Create a brand style guide that includes logo usage, color codes, typography, and tone of voice.
Educate your team or any freelancers you work with about these guidelines.
Regularly audit your marketing materials to ensure they stick to these guidelines.

Not Having An Online Presence

Not setting up a solid online presence means you're turning your back on potential customers who rely on the internet for information and shopping.

You risk losing business to competitors who are visible online. For instance, a local bakery without an informative website or active social media presence might miss out on orders from potential customers looking for shops with various pastries. It could also miss out on getting positive reviews, which can attract new customers and increase sales.

Not Paying Attention to Data

Failing to track and analyze your marketing efforts means you're essentially marketing in the dark, without data-driven insights.

You might miss opportunities to fine-tune your strategy. Think about an e-commerce store that doesn't bother tracking website analytics. They might not realize that most of their customers abandon their shopping carts before making a purchase, missing the chance to fix this issue and improve their conversion rate.

Solution: Start using web analytics tools like Google Analytics and social media insights to gather data and gain insights.

Actionable Steps:

Install Google Analytics on your website and set up goals to track conversions.
Use social media analytics tools to monitor engagement and audience demographics. If you're using Facebook and Instagram, you can use the Meta Business Suite analytics tools to check your performance. TikTok Business Profile also gives you some cool analytics. And all these are free to use.
Regularly review these analytics to identify trends and which areas get the highest form of engagement.
Look beyond vanity metrics like Facebook likes. Monitor your post shares and the comments left on your posts. They give more insight into how impactful your content really is.

Skipping Out on SEO

If you ignore SEO (Search Engine Optimization), your website and content won't pop up in search engine results, making it difficult for potential customers to discover your business.

This will limit your online visibility and you'll kiss organic traffic goodbye. For instance, a small local photography studio might not optimize its website for "pre-wedding photoshoots in Accra" and, as a result, doesn't appear in search results when locals search for photoshoots. This means missed opportunities to attract local clients.

Solution: Prioritize on-page and off-page SEO to improve your website's search engine rankings.