Not all businesses are created equal. Some have a vision—they plan, estimate, and intelligently invest budgets in promotion, growth, and development. Meanwhile, other businesses don't take enough time to analyze their competition, their consumer, or their budget for online promotion. To find the real reasons, the SEOLITTE team decided to investigate the digital environment and answer the following questions:
- Why do some businesses in the Republic of Moldova fail in the online environment, while others increase their income several times from a single campaign?
- What are the mistakes the market makes most often when it comes to going online?
- What obstacles can arise in the online environment that businesses were not at all prepared for?
To find out the challenges of Moldovan companies, we decided to become "spies" and follow the actions of some SMEs on the local market and beyond. We have noted down all our observations and want to share them in this article.
Let's Start Over!
Incompetence in Digital Marketing
The typical entrepreneur is apathetic about developing in the online promotion segment. He is doing well—thank you—he has steady sales on certain products and services. Why evolve into marketing? This "laziness" generates total ignorance toward quality promotion in the digital environment.
2. Engaging in the Wrong Decision-Making Process, Activating Superficially, or Starting Completely Random Activities
Namely, they:
- Organize in-house marketing but without a marketing director to set the directions online.
- Take action on their own, being sure that promoting on Google and online, in general, is extremely easy and that anyone can do it if they know how to press a few buttons. Or...
- Hire a single person (in many cases, even one with no experience in digital marketing), who sets up a few campaigns per month without well-defined goals.
3. Lack of a Budget (Thought) for Online Promotion Services
Let's start with numbers: a budget accepted by companies for paid advertising varies between 200-500 euros/month. Entrepreneurs say that's a reasonable figure. Why? Simple! Because they don't see it as an investment but as an amount they can afford to "lose" if a promotional campaign doesn't bring them results.
In this situation, the perception of the budget is extremely important.
Throughout SEOLITTE's experience, we have met clients for whom even 100 euros was worth more than the subsequent sales resulting from those campaigns. We also had funny situations when we received budgets of 50 dollars for three months for Facebook Ads or Google Ads. But we also managed to convince the client that it was worth investing an average budget of $500 in paid promotion.
4. Lack of a Digital Marketing Strategy
Some newly launched businesses do not realize that they will have to compete not only with the competition but also with their strategies for promoting the site on Google or social media. The losses in this battle start from day one if entrepreneurs do not have a comprehensive plan to promote the brand/product/service...
Also, from the survey conducted with Moldovan entrepreneurs, we were amazed to learn that 45% of businesses do not communicate online about promotions or offers that would attract their potential customers.
It seems to them that if they post a product online and do paid advertising, the consumer is bound to buy it. And if they don't, it's the fault of that manager who didn't set up the campaign correctly. Does he always have to be a scapegoat? No! From this moment on, it's time for them to realize that they need a well-designed strategy, in which they will have set goals, objectives, and sales funnels!
5.
Confusion About Promotional Channels and Wrongly Set Advertisements
Since online came with a lot of business opportunities, entrepreneurs got lost among social networks, streaming platforms, video content, and the possibilities offered by search engines... Too many, too different—where else do you need budgets?
From our survey, we deduced that due to insufficient financial resources, 35.3% of businesses in the Republic of Moldova do not do digital marketing (even if they would be open to learning as much as possible about online marketing).
Here we have come to notice an interesting trend: business owners or novice marketers do not understand the mission of each promotion channel. They try them all, invest thousands of dollars in each (lucky those with budgets like that!), then choose the one they find to be the easiest to use and—of course—the cheapest. If it brought them a few more quality leads, then they're even happier.
Nota bene: If you've noticed or admitted to yourself that you make these mistakes, be sure that they can all be corrected. It all depends on your determination to invest daily effort, time, and perseverance in your business.
6. Information From Irrelevant Sources
Promotional campaigns of famous brands stay in memory for a long time and—why not—become real hype. Apple and its "Think Different" campaign, Samsung with "Share the Light," and Audi and the "Unleashed" model all came to unconventionally promote new products in the market. From here, most businesses wanted "just like theirs."
It's good to follow sources of inspiration from the world of global marketing, but it's not rational to want the same promotion campaign for completely different niches, products, budgets, and audiences. The mistake of entrepreneurs consists of getting information from sources irrelevant to their business and desires not calibrated with the respective niche.
7. Misunderstanding Customer Needs
Why are global brands successful? They understood a "small" axiom: pay maximum attention to the needs and wants of your customers. Probably, this escapes Moldovan businesses that start promotion online.
The same rule is valid online: the needs of the users should be at the forefront of building the relationship between the brand and the consumer. You can find out what people are searching for on Google and provide them with information relevant to their needs and wants.
8. Absence of a Professional Photographer and Graphic Designer
Consumers love visuals. The absence of a graphic designer's touch can be seen from a mile away. A poorly designed banner will not attract attention. Moreover, it will not make the user click on that ad.
Additionally, investing in a professional photographer seems to be a challenge for some start-up businesses. Again, it's about the wrong perception of money. They see it as "spent," not "invested."
9. Lack of Training and Development of the Digital Marketing Team
From our customers' experiences and the market in general, we understood the importance of in-house training. Employees must be trained by those with more experience. At least one training per month will increase efficiency and inspire employees to put in maximum effort.
10. Non-Optimized Websites
Site optimization impacts both user experience and Google rankings. Slow loading speeds, confusing designs, and poorly placed CTAs all lead to higher bounce rates.
Curiosity: In our survey, we found out that 66.7% of businesses in Moldova did not know their website's conversion rate, and 78% did not perform keyword analysis.
Conclusion
Moldovan businesses face many challenges in online promotion. However, with trust in professionals, rethinking budgets, strong promotion strategies, and more care toward consumers and employees, success is possible.
The SEOLITTE team wants to know: Are you planning to implement these changes?
We offer a free one-hour consultation to identify your digital challenges and provide tailored solutions.
Call +373 69 809 235 and let's chat about your promotion!