(Part 1 of 2) Ten marketing mistakes to avoid

Good day!

I hope you’re enjoying beautiful spring weather wherever you are.

Today’s topic sprung out of an abundance of missteps and missed opportunities I’ve noticed lately. In fact, I’ve seen so many that I decided to break this topic into two newsletters. Let’s get into it!

All the best,

#11 | 28 May 2025

(Part 1 of 2) Ten marketing mistakes to avoid

Any business operating in public and private digital spaces such as social media, websites, and email (mass or 1-1) is making impressions on people all the time. And every single impression is an opportunity for potential customers to remember you in a positive or negative light—or not at all!

Here are 5 of the 10 problems I’ve seen in the past few weeks. Armed with this knowledge, you can avoid these oversights and deliver good vibes more often. 👍👍

1. Not promoting or sharing your business location in your social media profiles.

Sharing your location is especially important if your business depends on people visiting a physical location. Last week, I saw a post from a restaurant, went to their profile to see if it’s in my area, and I couldn’t figure out where it was! Did I take the extra step to Google it? No. Will anyone? Don’t count on it.

Even if your street address is not critical to your business model, it’s helpful to note your country, at least. Social media reach is amazing and unpredictable these days! People want to support businesses in their region.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, if your business is Canadian, it’s more important than ever to promote this to your Canadian audience.

2. Not branding your digital freebies or sign-up forms.

Last year, I saved a link to 5 recipes for weekly meal prep. Nice. That’s a great thing to offer! However, I opened it recently and there’s no branding or any indication of who created it. How sad! (I was able to find the source by digging into an affiliate link but that’s far more work than it should be.)

Here’s another example: I opened a link to a 5-day challenge sign-up form, which I’m sure the owner would like people to share. There was no clue or link to the business or person who created the event anywhere on the page (including the URL).

Don’t forget to tell people who you are and how to find you! Anything you offer for download, or that may be shared, should identify you as the source. Include info such as your name, logo, website, and social media handles. A QR code may be useful in some situations.

3. Not creating a good, simple user experience.

Back to that unbranded meal prep freebie I mentioned above. The link (here it is*) only opens in Canva if you have an account. Canva is an app that not everyone has, and while I do have it, this is not how I want to view recipes! Plus, I can’t easily download the file to my phone or computer. Frustrating.

Always think about how your audience will use what you’re offering, and ensure the experience is as smooth and universal as possible. For example, most people have the tools to open a simple PDF or a web page.

*This booklet includes my favourite recipe for Cottage Cheese Pancakes. Coincidentally, I had also saved an identical (word for word) recipe from Morgan Hancock who branded her digital recipe card @wholesomelymorgan so it was easy for me to find her online ✅. This makes me wonder who actually wrote the recipe, but I’ll give credit to Morgan who shared it earlier! Here’s her recipe. (Enjoy!)

4. “Borrowing” or plagiarizing, and not giving credit or getting permission.

It’s critical for business owners to understand licenses and copyright infringement. In many cases, you MUST have permission to use or share the work of others. Sometimes, simply giving credit to the originator is appropriate and easy to do. Here’s an example:

Always give credit for content, quotes, photographs, or artwork of any kind that you did not create yourself—unless you have explicit permission to share without attribution. It bothers me, and I don’t think I’m alone on this, when someone shares a quote or image and doesn’t give proper credit.

This kind of oversight is far more serious when clearly profiting from content created by others. There’s a current lawsuit involving recipes published in a very successful cookbook that were allegedly developed by other popular food writers. There are also countless cases of stolen artwork used on mass-produced products with zero credit or commission to the artists.

5. Ignoring activity on your posts and not answering questions in a timely manner.

Treating social media like a billboard and not an opportunity for two-way interactions is a miss. A couple of weeks ago, I asked a small business a straight-forward product availability question on Instagram and I’m still waiting. Oy.

Answer questions as soon as possible. For positive, non-question comments, if you can’t reply to each one, a simple acknowledgement with a “like” is better than nothing. (No need to acknowledge trolls!)

👁️👁️ Do you need help spotting opportunities for improvement in your marketing? I’m here. Having a second pair of eyes can make a big difference.

Next month, I’ll share 5 more mistakes I’ve noticed recently.

If reading this on theowlsedge.ca, subscribers can log in and leave me a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

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