You’ve dreamed of your business and have begun taking the steps of creating products and services to bring that dream to life.

You’ve hired a branding expert to create the perfect logo, brand colors, and fonts. Or maybe you’re bootstrapping it and spent hours, days, or weeks learning Photoshop in order to DIY. You’ve chosen the perfect theme for your store and paid a designer to build your perfect website.

You start posting content every few hours on social media and maybe even start seeing a few likes and follows come in on your Instagram and Facebook pages.

You’ve told all of your family and friends that you’re “finally doing it” and will be launching your business.

Then, the big day comes…you’re open for business! You’re overwhelmed with a mix of excitement, nervousness, and optimism. As you’re furiously posting on social media that you’re officially open for business, you wait with baited breath to see your first “You’ve Got A Sale!” notification in your inbox.

But, it doesn’t come. Or, maybe a few sales trickle in here and there from family and friends, but it’s not what you were expecting.

As you look at your mounting credit card debt you used to launch your business, you’re wondering what in the world happened?

In the midst of the excitement of planning and launching, you forgot one very important element: your marketing strategy.

Your customer should always be at the forefront of every action you take in your business and that includes your marketing strategy. This is even more important when you’re pre-launch. 

A strategy doesn't mean scheduling posts on Instagram all day or spending countless hours blogging to make sure you hit some imaginary quota. Sure, you may be getting followers here and there, but they aren't going to your website and they're definitely not converting into sales.

Mistake #1: Your content is more about you than about them.

The focus nowadays seems to focus on what you’re passionate about and turning that into a business. That’s a great way to start, but you can’t be so engulfed in your own passions and interests that you forget about the lifeblood of your business – your ideal client.

It’s about much more than having a pretty website. There is one main reason you probably aren’t making sales in your business and it’s time to dive into that today.

Create it and they will come doesn’t fly anymore. You have to understand your customer to the point that you know exactly who they are and what they struggle with. Your business needs to answer the question:

What problem are you solving for your customers?

When you know everything there is to know about your ideal customers, you will begin to understand what they need from you, and ultimately, what they are willing to buy.

Mistake #2: Chasing quantity (followers) over quality (customers).

“But Eryn, I got likes and followers on social media. Aren’t those my customers?”

There is a big difference between followers and customers. And there is an even bigger difference between customers and ideal customers.

Your research on your customer should be so specific that you can nail it down to one particular person – your Avatar.

Your Avatar is the absolute PERFECT customer for your business. This is the person you know so well, that you will understand how to reach her, incorporate her into every aspect of your brand messaging, and ultimately land the sale – easily.

Don’t try to catch everyone in your net of research, just nail down this one person. Your Avatar will feel so connected with you and your brand that she will feel you’ve created products just for her.

Even if you have already started selling, I challenge you to go back and revisit your Avatar is. Constantly evaluate her (or him).

My own process begins with defining my Avatar in way that connects with what I will bring to the table through my business products, services, and messaging. 

To make it easy on you, I've created a freebie that outlines the 5 free strategies I use to drive traffic to my store and get more sales. All of my techniques are focused on catering to and connecting to your target audience. 

And nope, this doesn't mean spending money on Facebook ads (which are getting more and more expensive). This also doesn't mean spending days posting links all over the Internet - because who has time for that??

No matter if you’re just getting started in your business, or you’ve already created or curated your products, this activity will help you understand how to position your brand in order to land those sales.

Download your 5 Free Strategies today to get started – and turn the very foundation of your business around for the better.

No time to read? Here's the podcast version of this post:

Mistake #3: Not solving your ideal customer's problem.

Everywhere we go, we are having advertisements and products pushed down our throats. To make sure that you connect with your core audience, you must be completely aware and in tune with their main problems or challenges as it relates to what you sell.

Ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. Who am I serving?

2. What barriers are preventing them from buying from me?

3. How can I overcome those barriers?

When you can answer these exact questions about your Avatar, you've set the foundation to the marketing strategy that will set your business on fire.