Have you ever sent an email to the wrong person? Forgotten to fix a typo before posting to social media? Realized a report was missing an image well after it had been published? Marketing mistakes happen. Fortunately, we’re here to help by compiling seven of the top mistakes even the best marketers make. Check out our list and learn how you can avoid these common mishaps to strengthen and solidify your marketing strategy:
1. Overlooking Data: The amount of data available to marketers today has become so abundant that it can be hard to know where to start. Rather than just ignoring data altogether, we recommend starting with a small, targeted approach. Find out how customers heard about your business by working with sales representatives to pose this question on all incoming calls. Their answers may provide valuable insight regarding which of your campaigns are most effective and where to assign budget in the future.
2. Inconsistency: A successful marketing strategy requires a clear, consistent story. Failure to deliver such not only confuses audiences but also diminishes your overall brand impact and awareness. Each channel of your online and offline presence must align to provide users with cohesive message about who your brand is and what services you provide.
3. Under Testing: When it comes to the launch of a new marketing campaign, the importance of testing cannot be stressed enough. Yet this step often gets minimized or pushed aside due to tight deadlines or budgetary issues. Whether it’s an email, website or print campaign, quality assurance is a vital step in ensuring the success of any marketing initiative. Plan ahead by defining a clear testing process that can be repeated and used as part of all future launch preparation.
4. Ignoring the Competition: With everything going on at your own company, it can be difficult to find the time to step back and take a look at the competition. Making this a priority however, will not only give you a better idea of what your prospects are seeing, but identify opportunities for your brand to differentiate itself. A simple SWOT analysis is a great place to start.
5. Marketing to the Masses: Today’s consumers want to be talked to on an individual basis making the strategy of mass marketing no longer relevant. Marketing today requires a one-to-one approach that talks to individuals directly. Personalization, for example, is one such technique that utilizes technology to learn about website users and deliver specific content and calls to action based on their behavior.
6. Weak Calls to Action: No matter how well designed or targeted a marketing campaign may be, without a strong call to action the project carries little to no value. Effective marketing pieces contain calls to action that clearly communicate to audiences the desired next step that they are being asked to take. Calls to action must be direct, provide a compelling reason to act and be easy to act upon. If you want users to make a donation on your website, for example, you must present a strong call to action that communicates the benefit of doing so and is followed by a user-friendly, streamlined process of doing such.
7. Not Listening: Whether it’s on social media, blog discussions or in-person at events, your audience is talking and sharing valuable information. What are their top pain points? What did they think of your last newsletter? How was their experience in working with your team? It’s our job as marketers to list and welcome this commentary as an opportunity to gain valuable insight that can inform and empower future initiatives.
No matter how many years of experience or marketing awards won, the truth is that marketing mistakes are bound to happen. By learning from the mishaps of others and taking a proactive approach, we can minimize our own mistakes and work towards delivering a well thought out, consistent marketing strategy.
