3 Reasons No One Is Buying What You're Selling - and what you can do to fix that!

I like to think I'm a really great consumer.

By that I mean, I'm what you call a shopaholic high converting customer.

Sephora has convinced me I need to shop to maintain VIB Rouge status, racking up Nordstrom notes is a sport, and let's not talk about how many things I've purchased thanks to Amazon 1-click / free prime 2-day shipping. But beyond these big names, I'm pretty loyal to some little brands too! For example, I have no less than 3 products from One Love Organics in my bathroom at all times and I regularly re-order Little L's krak'ems for my dog (despite the fact that she has several unopened treat bags from other brands). These guys get it when it comes to their marketing strategy so you can consider me sold. 

So what are they doing right? Lots of things. But let's talk about what they aren't doing wrong. I swear that sentence makes sense but #truelife it's 1am and sometimes things make more sense in my head than online. 

3 Reasons No One Is Buying What You're Selling

There are a ton of reasons why businesses like these are more successful than others – but in particular, these 3 are key things that lead them to getting more sales while you may be missing out!

ONE: You haven't defined your target market

I'm constantly reminding my clients that if you're trying to sell to everyone, you're not attracting anyone. You are not Amazon. If you haven't heard it a million times already, you need to define your niche. “Women” is not specific enough. “Women ages 20-65” is not specific enough. “Women ages 20-35 who have children” is not specific enough. Defining (and researching!) your target market is marketing 101, so if you're serious about growing your biz or blog, JUST DO IT already!

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Defining (and researching!) your target market is marketing 101, so if you're serious about growing your biz or blog, JUST DO IT already!” quote=”Defining (and researching!) your target market is marketing 101, so if you're serious about growing your biz or blog, JUST DO IT already!”]

TWO: No one knows who you are

Build it and they will come? Yeah, that's not a thing. Your product or service or blog or personality could be the best thing ever, but if no one knows you exist – then it doesn't really matter. A marketing strategy isn't just “posting on social media” or “sending products to bloggers” – you need to be clear on the who/what/where/when/whys of your marketing activities. What are you trying to accomplish – driving traffic to your website? Growing your email list? Building community through social media? Probably some combination / all of the above. You need to be clear on your business goals so you can tailor your marketing activities to achieve those goals. Otherwise you're wasting time – and really, no one needs to waste time. Marketing is an ongoing process that needs to be refined and repeated. And refined and repeated again. If you're not putting yourself out there consistently – to the right people – you won't see sales. I'm not going to tell you that numbers don't matter (they do), but having 500 targeted, engaged followers is better than having 5,000 followers who never want to buy what you're selling.

THREE: You're not communicating your value

People are selfish <– that's the truth. You have to give them a reason to buy what YOU are selling. What's in it for them? Just being “pretty” or “affordable” or “fun” isn't enough. Your product or service needs to provide real value to people's lives AND you need to be able to communicate that value. I think some entrepreneurs are predisposed to thinking that their products / services are really awesome and so other people will think they are really awesome too. And then they'll buy them… right? Eh. Maybe. But honestly, it doesn't matter how awesome YOU think your products are… what matters is what your (potential) customers think. Ask yourself how are you are making their lives easier? How are you solving a problem? How are you giving them something that they REALLY want?

If none of these resonates with you – high five! (Yes, that's my dog, giving you a virtual high five).