8 Reasons No One Cares About Your Business (& how to fix it)

There are a lot of things that need to be right to get shoppers to buy.

But what if you can’t even get shoppers?

You’re marketing your products but no one is paying attention. 

People aren’t even stopping to like, comment, or share your social media posts, browse the products on your craft show table, or read your emails.

They’re completely ignoring your business. Here are 8 reasons why that may be 

 

1 – You aren’t marketing enough

As great as it would be to create all day, we can’t skip marketing. 

The majority of small business owners don’t spend enough time marketing. 

A good starting point is: 

Spend just as much time marketing your products as you do creating them. 

For example, if I spend 8 hours a week making handbags, I should also spend 8 hours a week marketing them. 

Then adjust that ratio based on your sales:

>> if you can’t keep up with sales; spend more time creating and less time marketing.

>> if you’re not getting any sales; spend more time marketing (and learning about the people you’re marketing to) and less time creating.

Track your hours for a week or two (if you’re not already) and see how many of your work hours are spent on marketing. 

If they’re not equal to or greater than your production hours, try investing more time in marketing.

The Success Planner will not only help you track your hours, but also analyze your return on investment (i.e. is that time you spend posting on Facebook worth it?) as well as conversion rates. 

 

2 – You’re not using the right marketing techniques

It’s also not enough to rely on one form of marketing. 

So if you’re posting to social media a few times a day and checking marketing off your to-do list, that’s your problem. 

Every business needs to use a mix of marketing strategies, such as:

• social media marketing
• search engine optimization
• email marketing
• PR (public relations)
• affiliate marketing
• paid advertisements
• content marketing (creating blog posts, videos, podcast, etc.)

*You don’t need to do it all, but you should test different techniques, find what works for you, and use at least 3 marketing techniques regularly.

Even with one strategy, you must mix things up and test different techniques. 

For example, when it comes to social media, you may try different:

• social media platforms
• content
• posting times
• hashtags/keywords
• media (e.g. videos, photos, text)

You may even try sponsored posts and working with influencers.

Instead of putting all your creative juices towards making products, apply them to your marketing. 

Brainstorm out-of-the-box ideas (instead of following what everyone else is doing).

Many not-so-great businesses/products have been successful due to marketing. 

But more often than not, great businesses/products fail due to poor marketing. 

If you have a good product (proof of that is having sales under your belt) but you’re not getting many shoppers, chances are you need to change up your marketing techniques. 

 

3 – You’re making it about you

Here’s the harsh truth I learned early on in business; consumers don’t care about you.

Of course, that’s not 100% true. But it’s important to remember: the focus should be on the consumer, not you.

Once your products catch someone’s attention, then they may be interested in hearing your story. 

But to catch their attention, you must appeal to their interests first.

Let’s say, I sell homemade cleaning products. It’s spring and, as a consumer, you’re naturally thinking about spring cleaning. 

Which marketing text is more interesting to you?

#1 – “New items have just hit my Etsy shop!”

OR

#2 – “Here’s the best stove cleaning trick (no scrubbing required!)”

The first statement is about my business and what I want (which is for you to visit my Etsy shop and buy the new items I’ve made).

The second statement is offering you a benefit: I’ll make cleaning your stove easier. It also takes into account what might be happening in your life at the moment: spring cleaning. 

Both are promoting my products, as the stove cleaning trick would involve one of my non-toxic cleaners. But #2 makes it about the customer.

Consumers don’t care about you/your business; they care about what your products/business can do for them.

Instead of creating products you want to create and posting content for your benefit, think about your customer first. 

• What does your customer care about? 
• What do they want?
• What are they dealing with at this current time?
• What’s the feeling/goal/look/outcome they hope to achieve with the help of your products? 

Put the consumer first in everything you do.

If you don’t care about who’s going to buy your products, why would they care about what you’re selling?

 

4 – You’re not speaking to anyone

“When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one” ~Meredith Hill

That quote explains the main problem behind almost every struggling small business. 

They want to attract as many customers as possible and think that being broad and vague is the way to do that.

When you create products or marketing content to appeal to too many people, it becomes generic.

Generic is boring. Consumers tune out generic products and content. 

Don’t ride the fence. 

Define who you’re targeting and design products, branding, marketing, etc. for them.

When someone is shouting a generic message to a huge crowd of people, it’s easy to ignore them. 

When they’re speaking directly to you, you’re going to pay attention.

Speak to a specific person; don’t shout at a huge crowd. 

How To Find a Goldmine of Customers will help you find your business’s specific person to speak to.

 

 

5 – You’re following the leaders

When starting a new business, or trying to figure out what to do to garner interest in your business, you may look at what your competitors are doing and follow their lead.

When you fall into this trap, you start to create a “cookie-cutter” business.

Then, consumers can’t see what makes your business/products different or understand why they would leave a business they trust to take a chance on you. 

Get to know what’s already on the market and the way it’s being marketed.

What are your consumers tired of seeing when it comes to the products you create and the way they’re marketed?

What might be a “breath of fresh air” to them?

Think outside the box and find a way to go in the opposite direction of your competitors. 

When they’re all using video to promote their products, perhaps posting beautiful photos will help you stand out. 

 

6 – You’re passively marketing

Posting content to your social media account or setting up at a craft show and waiting for the right shoppers to come to you is passive marketing. 

Active marketing is knowing the type of consumer you want to target and working your way into their lives. 

For example:

Social Media

Passive marketing: setting up an Instagram account for your business and posting your content daily (e.g. a picture of your product with a link to your Etsy shop to buy or a video of you creating one of your products).

Active marketing: knowing who your audience is and whether they’re on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok and using the keywords/hashtags they commonly search in your posts, and posting the type of content they’re interested in. 

 

Craft Shows

Passive marketing: signing up for any local craft show, creating as much stock as possible, and setting it on a table for people to shop.

Active marketing: finding a craft show that targets your market, selectively creating products that target market is interested in, and creating a display using color, props, signage, etc. that grabs your target market’s attention.

 

Outreach

Passive marketing: sending your lookbook to a variety of local boutiques in hopes they’re interested in carrying your products. 

Active marketing: researching local boutiques that target a similar market as you and carry products that are commonly purchased with yours. Sending a lookbook with a customized email pitch explaining why you believe your products will sell well in that specific boutique; showing you have knowledge of their store and their customers. 

Don’t market your products and hope the right people find your marketing messages. 

Research your target market (where to find them, their interests, keywords they use, etc.), create marketing messages they’re interested in, and put them in the right places.

 

7 – You’re trying to force a square peg into a round hole

Many people push harder to make their idea work instead of looking at the evidence and pivoting. 

I’ve tried to make many businesses and products work, for longer than I should have, simply because I refused to listen to the market. 

If you’ve been marketing your products for months, and have only had one or two customers, try playing around with different designs and/or products. 

If people don’t have an interest in upcycled jewelry made from melted-down barbie dolls, making more variations or marketing more frequently won’t make people interested. 

You can’t change consumers; you must conform to them if you want a successful business.

Keep testing new ideas and markets until you find something that works. 

 

8 – You haven’t given it enough time

It takes months, but more typically, years, to grow a big audience and have consistent sales. 

It may feel like you’re spinning your tires when actually, you’re making very typical progress.

If you feel as though you’re doing everything right, and you’re not making any of the mistakes on this list, you may just need to give it more time. 

There isn’t a timeline for how long it takes to see results; it varies depending on the stage of your business, your audience, what you’re selling, the techniques you’re using, etc. 

If you have a unique product, know your target market, have marketing experience, etc., you may see results in a couple of months. 

If you’re starting your first business and are learning about target markets, USPs, branding, marketing, etc. as you go, it may take 9-12 months to see consistent sales. 

Results vary. But one thing is for sure. You won’t see significant progress within days, or even weeks, of starting your business and putting your products out there.

The success stories you hear of businesses making thousands of dollars their first month on Etsy are not from people with no previous experience, winging it on Etsy.

They likely have several years of business experience and many failed attempts behind them, which is why they’re able to achieve success quickly.

Success is typically a slow burn. 

So cut yourself some slack, try not to feel less-than when analyzing competitors, and give your business the time and consistent effort it needs to build sustainable success. 

 

I hope you find these tips helpful! Let me know in the comments if any of them resonate with you or if you have any others to add 🙂