Davie Fogarty’s Top 5 (un)popular opinions - #5 Marketing

Oodie founder Davie Fogarty lists the four things businesses get wrong about marketing (and then explains how to get them right).

When it comes to marketing your small business, everyone wants to crack the code to fast growth. And I get it—there’s a lot of pressure to scale quickly.

But what if the thing holding you back isn’t your product or even your competition, it’s your marketing approach?

Here are the four most common marketing mistakes I see.

Whether you’re running paid ads on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, your videos or images need to grab attention in the first few seconds and stop people in their tracks.

Too many businesses throw up a boring product image or a slightly shoddy video, and then wonder why their marketing isn’t converting. But these platforms reward engaging ads that keep users on them for longer. So, if your ad isn’t entertaining, educational, or otherwise attention-grabbing, it’s going to struggle.

The key to strong creatives is understanding what resonates with your audience. It might be humour, a compelling story, or a controversial take. Figure out what engages your customers and invest in quality content to bring those ideas to life.

And remember you don’t need a big budget for great content. Sometimes a simple, well-shot iPhone video can outperform a polished agency production. Start small, test what works, and then keep refining your approach.

Don’t get me wrong, organic content is essential, especially when you’re just starting out. It will help you build an authentic connection with your audience, figure out which content works, and get your brand’s tone of voice right. But organic growth alone won’t get you far enough, fast enough.

If you want to scale, you’ve got to invest in paid ads, whether on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. These platforms give you the power to target your ideal customers with pinpoint precision, and they will allow you to scale your business far beyond what organic reach can achieve.

By all means use organic marketing to test which creatives resonate with your audience. Then, once you have a winning formula, put some money behind it.

Too many SMEs are running their marketing on the fly, launching campaigns when they feel like it or when something goes wrong. You might have a great product, but if you don’t have a strategic plan for when and how to market it, you’re leaving a ton of potential sales on the table.

This is why you need a marketing calendar, which allows you to align your promotions with your product launches, sales cycles, and seasonal trends. More importantly, it helps you anticipate what’s coming next, so you’re not left scrambling to pull things together at the last minute.

When you have a calendar in place, you can also better coordinate with your team. For example, your sales, operations, and marketing teams can work together to ensure product availability lines up with any promotions you might have in the pipeline, avoiding the headache of launching a big campaign only to run out of stock.

A good marketing calendar helps create momentum. Over time, you’ll be able to plan bigger and better campaigns that drive long-term growth.

One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is ignoring the data that’s right in front of them.

Tools like Trend Rocket will show you which ads are getting the most engagement on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. You can also see how much your competitors are spending on ads, what products they’re pushing hard, and why those products are performing. This will give you a sense of what works—and what doesn’t—so you can avoid wasting time and money on ineffective strategies.

Another bonus of ad spy tools is that they help you spot trends early. By keeping an eye on what’s gaining traction, you can get ahead of the curve.

So there you have it. Marketing isn’t just about running ads and hoping for the best. It’s about building a solid foundation of great creatives, smart paid strategies, and thoughtful planning, and then scaling from there.

If you’re making any of these four mistakes, now’s the time to fix them. Get organised, learn from your competitors, and make sure your marketing is built for growth. The results will speak for themselves.

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See Davie Fogarty’s other (un)popular opinions on:

• Starting a small business
  
• Social media
• Ecommerce
• Product development

This is general information only and does not constitute financial or legal advice. Seek professional financial and/or legal advice to determine the right outcomes for your business.