The Biggest Challenges That Businesses Face With Marketing
Marketing is no cakewalk; in fact, this is actually one of the most challenging aspects that businesses face. It’s not as simple as dancing to some trendy song on TikTok and then waiting to go viral; it’s not as simple as posting a flat lay and making it big on Instagram. It’s hard getting viral, and people seem to forget that. In fact, it can honestly feel next to impossible sometimes too. But it’s not just about the challenges of going viral, as it is getting sales in general.
Constantly, the marketing sphere is changing, and there are always going to be new trends and consumer expectations. AI is coming in, and that also makes a massive difference too. Plus, you can’t forget about attention spans either; that’s something that Dee Agarwal mentions. Thanks to TikTok and other forms of short content, it’s more challenging to keep the attention spans of both children and adults.
So you can imagine how challenging a marketing message is going to be with short attention spans. It’s important as a business owner to know that marketing is far away from being a cakewalk and that there are multiple challenges when it comes to it. So, here are some pretty common challenges you can expect to face.
Lack of Resources
With limited resources, it can be difficult for businesses to implement effective marketing campaigns. Whether it’s a lack of time, money, or access to the right tools, these limitations can greatly hinder marketing efforts and lead to subpar results. Insufficient funds and resources can also cause a business to struggle to launch a new product. This is because operations will take priority over marketing, and without enough revenue to support marketing activities, it’s hard to get the ball rolling.
Sometimes, it can be so simple such as a lack of a good space for marketing, a lack of good video editing software, or even the lack of the right space for recording. Lack of resources happens, and as a business owner, you’re not entirely expected to just buy items for your marketing that will only be used once. But in general, people have visions and can create their visions due to the lack of resources.
There’s Never Enough Time
Marketing is a time-consuming process, so it’s no wonder that some businesses find it challenging to keep up with it. As a result, they tend to put marketing on the back burner when something else comes up. You need to keep in mind that there are so many different forms of marketing, and honestly, the content creation process can take a lot of time.
You have to make and edit videos and photos; there’s the copywriting aspect, the graphic design aspect, and the list could go on and on. It takes so much time, and one person cannot and should not do this alone. While yes, it’s technically cost-effective if it’s just one person, or even if it’s just AI, it’s not possible. You need to delegate, and there needs to be a specialist for each department. You’ll never have enough time for good marketing if you try to do it all.
Lack of Knowledge
Technology is constantly changing, and it’s constantly affecting marketing. Consumer trends are constantly changing, and this also affects marketing. The same can be said for politics and current events, as this all affects marketing too. There is always something that affects the marketing industry as a whole and affects how each business and each industry also markets. It can be a lot, and honestly, it can be fairly overwhelming too.
When a business lacks knowledge, it can be difficult to stay competitive in the industry. It can also make it hard to understand and meet customer needs. It can be hard to avoid marketing mistakes when it feels like 24/7 you need to know what’s going on in order to stay relevant.
Getting Visibility is Challenging
If you don’t get visibility, it’s going to feel as if it’s next to impossible to ever get it, and sometimes algorithms for platforms will keep you down too. While it’s important to have clear marketing goals and strategies, it’s equally critical for businesses to have visibility into their internal and external marketing efforts. This includes ensuring that marketing plans and budgets are clearly communicated to teammates, avoiding silos and misunderstandings, and promoting a transparent and productive workflow.
This challenge is particularly important for small businesses that lack the financial resources to compete with larger companies in terms of advertising visibility. There’s a vicious cycle, you usually need funds in order to make great content, and you need funds to advertise it, plus you need funds to do this regularly. If you have funds, you can’t achieve any of this, but you need funds in order to make this all happen. Visibility is, unfortunately, a major challenge that most businesses tend to struggle with.