Just like a puppy is not just for Christmas, your marketing activity is not just a fly by night afterthought. This is the time to get those matchsticks out and use them to open your eyes wide to the scary facts. This is an all-important part of your business. Be brave, and read on.

Horrendous, cheesy images

Why do people do this? Never before have images been more available, more plentiful, more affordable. And no, I don’t mean stealing images from Google – I am definitely against that – but too many people are still choosing bad images. For a selection of the type of images NEVER to use again, I made a Shutterstock Lightbox (by the way Shutterstock is one of my favourite image libraries) of “Cheesy Images”. And don’t buy any of them. There are plenty of other options – even free ones!

Cowering away – not sharing your successes

You probably have some pretty impressive things going on in your life/business and no one knows, because you got shy, or super busy delivering your product and services, so didn’t take 5 minutes to mention them online.

The disappearing act

So often people launch their websites and social profiles, breathe a big sigh of relief and move on. Wrong! Creating a new website, and extending your brand and message online, is just the beginning; the exciting world of marketing awaits you. At TLD, we are proud to say that we have shown many people the possibilities – and they now say they love marketing  – even though it used to scare them!

Links to empty social profiles

I noticed recently someone announced their website launch and at the bottom they had the icons and links to Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. All nice to have but clicking through I saw… nothing. No customisation no activity, no branding.

It’s better to hide those links unless you honestly are active on social media. They also had a blog – with only one post, which said: “Here you can find out news about our company”. And nothing else. That’s bad!

Scaring people off (by being too salesly!)

While I am all about marketing and using your social media, blog and website to promote yourself, you must find the right balance. Being overly salesy and in your face can mean you actually put people off – and you don’t want to do that.

Showing up ugly

No money! No time! All the excuses I hear – but WHY would you have a website which isn’t well designed, representing your business? If you get an uncomfortable feeling about your website, chances are, others are cringing. It needs to be sorted. Call us and we can talk. Don’t leave it too long. We want you to leave the scary behind you!