Marketing is a tough game. It’s an uphill battle to try and get people to purchase your product or service, especially when there are so many other companies vying for their attention.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that most marketing campaigns fail.
Why do most marketing campaigns fail?
That question has been on the minds of small business owners for years, with some even going as far as to say that marketing doesn’t work at all!
Often they say “I don’t do marketing, I’m a referral-only business”. This is silly because the number of referrals is directly related to the number of clients you have. So why not MARKET to get more clients who can give you more referrals?
Here are 5 other marketing fails, and how to fix them.
Reason #01: You don’t know your market. If you’re going into a marketing campaign without knowing who your market is, what they want, what they fear, what they really care about… then you’re not really marketing… you’re guessing. In order to make sure you’re marketing is effective, you need to know who your audience is and what they want. If it’s not something that aligns with their interests, then the likelihood of them being interested in what you have to say drops significantly.
Reason #02: Not being authentic: It is important to be authentic in your marketing efforts. People will feel it and will be less likely to trust you or buy from you if you are not. Many companies claim to be authentic, but they are not. They make it seem like they care about their customers, but in reality, all they care about is making money only.
If you want to build a strong brand that people will love and trust, then you need to be authentic. Being authentic means being real and genuine with your customers. It means putting yourself in their shoes and doing what’s best for them instead of doing what’s best for the company’s bottom line or sales numbers. It also means admitting when something goes wrong instead of trying to cover it up or sweep it under the rug.
You can’t fake authenticity so if that is one thing that you value most, don’t try to pretend otherwise because no one will believe you anyway! Just do what is right for your customers even if that isn’t always easy because in the long run those who matter most will appreciate your efforts more than anything else as well as spread the word.
Reason #03: Your marketing message is wrong: Part of your job as a marketer is to find out what’s important to them and then shine the light on your product or service in a way that is going to be most appealing. You need to know what your customer wants and needs before you can sell them anything.
The problem is that most of us don’t know what our prospects want or need. We all think we do, but the reality is we are usually wrong.
If your message isn’t getting through to your prospect then it’s time to change something up in how you communicate with them. Maybe it’s a different tone of voice, maybe it’s more personalization, maybe it’s a new channel…maybe you need to try something completely different and start over from scratch.
You have to find out what they care about and then show them why your product or service makes sense for their needs (not yours).
Reason #04: Not measuring: If your marketing strategy doesn’t have concrete measurements in place, it’s difficult if not impossible for you to know what you need to work on and where your efforts should go. Without this data, your goals are likely going unmet or underperform. Start with google analytics and your email platform.
Reason #05: You don’t have a clear offer: In order for you to sell your product, it needs a clear value proposition. You should make the benefit of purchasing your goods obvious and attractive. If not, customers won’t know what’s so great about what you’re selling. Your offer should describe what they get, any payment terms, and your guarantee (risk reversal), if you have one.
Bonus Reason #06: You’re not making it easy to buy your product or service: If you don’t have an effective way for customers to purchase your goods, they won’t. Make the buying process as simple and intuitive as possible by having a clear “buy now” button on your website and avoiding any hoops that people need to jump through. Do as much of the work as you can to make it easy for them to buy from you. Prefill forms… give chat options… whatever you can think of to make it easy for them to buy.
When you overcome these 6 pitfalls, you will be on your way to a successful marketing campaign and more profits!
See you at the top!
Jeff
