When you own and operate a small business, your main advantage is that you have a lot more room for growth compared to your bigger competitors. On the other hand, small businesses also have a much smaller margin for error than some of the established stars of the market.

Whereas an established business can get away with a mistake or two because they hold enough capital in reserve and enough brand recognition to withstand it, a smaller business can’t really afford to err in any area, especially in the earliest stages of operation.

The advent of the internet and social media has been an obvious boon to small businesses, providing them with marketing platforms that don’t cost all that much and yet still reach very far toward the intended target audience. But that doesn’t mean that any marketing mistakes made by businesses of a moderate size won’t be damaging.

If anything, errors are now more damaging, because there are other small businesses that can pick up the slack with their efforts.

The opening stages of any business are perhaps the most critical, which is why you might want to contact Pinnacle Solutions LLC to take care of the legal end of it without having to worry about it. It’s also why, if you’re just starting out, you want to avoid the following errors that are often made by inexperienced marketers.

Blending in with the rest

Too many small businesses open their doors without having a clear idea of what their marketing will look like. As a result, they open up with marketing that is bland, generic, and even ineffectual. You have to determine early on what sets you apart from all the marketers on the market. If you can do that, you can start the process of branding, which will allow customers to notice you much faster than they would otherwise.

That kind of advantage is crucial for a small business to grab.

Lazy social media

Social media is an invaluable asset for small businesses of all stripes. Yet its mere existence doesn’t ensure that your marketing problems are solved. You still have to stay proactive, post often, and make sure that the message of each post is tailored to the platform on which it will be received.

Too often marketers let the social media pages of their respective businesses go dormant. Your customers will lose interest and look elsewhere extremely fast if that happens.

Messy websites

If you have a business website that looks like it was scribbled together by a hyperactive five-year-old, you most likely won’t garner the kind of attention for your business that you had hoped. It’s all right to include a few bells and whistles on your site. Just don’t let that block the path of clearly delineating your products and services in a clear and concise fashion or, worse yet, make it hard for customers to understand how to buy those products and services.

If you can steer clear of these common mistakes, you have a good basis for your small business marketing. From there, the rest is up to you.