I’ve been there—you spend thousands of dollars on marketing or advertising and don’t really know if it’s working. You might be wondering, did your sales increase? Did your lead quality increase? Did you make any money or just spend more? It can be SO FRUSTRATING! Trust me, I know. For your entertainment, here are eight epic marketing fails: https://blog.useproof.com/8-marketing-fails-see-believe/
But seriously, in my experience, there are usually five reasons our marketing fails:
1. Marketing Fails When We Are Scared To Be Authentic
I define marketing as “authentically sharing who you are, what you do, who you do it for, and the way you do it.” So, if you’re trying to influence people in a less than totally authentic-way, your marketing will fail.
Don’t pretend the customer experience is better than it is—FIX the customer experience and THEN do the marketing. Don’t pretend that there’s a “better deal” than there is…. bait and switch marketing is about as popular as chickenpox.
Be honest and upfront and FOCUS ON THE VALUE you provide to customers; it should be worth MUCH MORE than the price anyway!
2. Marketing Fails When We Don’t Want To Be Annoying
Follow-up can be seen as a service to your customers if you do it correctly. As consumers, we see up to 3000 advertising messages a day, our calendars and inboxes are chock-full, and there are hundreds of other things and people vying for our attention. Sometimes we forget to buy the things we want!
A reminder can be welcomed if you do it properly—and by properly I mean you do it using the customer’s preferred method of communication, and you stop following up if they say “no thank you.” I always use the example of reminding a man he wanted to buy his wife flowers for their anniversary—who wouldn’t be grateful for that follow-up?!
3. Marketing Fails When We Are Scared To Be Rejected.
I know it is tough to avoid this one, but you HAVE to let yourself know that it is NOT about you! When a customer decides not to purchase something, it does not mean you are a bad person, not good enough, or any other negative thing. Do not let your ego or your stories prevent you from offering your goods or services.
If you have to, go read about all of the times the greatest success stories have failed or been rejected before they succeeded! Every “no” is just one step closer to a “yes.” It COULD also mean that you need to learn from the missed opportunity when someone says no (remember, we always win or learn), so look for constructive feedback and let the rest go!
4. Marketing Fails When We’re Scared To Ask For The Sale
It’s one simple question, such as, “So are you interested in moving forward together?” but many of us just feel scared to ask. The paradigm shift that helps me is to remember that I have something that will HELP my clients SO MUCH, that NOT offering it to them is doing them a great disservice. If you don’t feel this way about your product or service, you have some work to do there!! Make sure you’re proud of and confident in what you’re offering so that you can adopt my useful paradigm!
5. Marketing Fails When We’re Not Tracking, Measuring, And Analyzing Properly
Unless you track how people heard about you, where else they’ve seen or heard about you, how many leads you get, how many of those leads turn into customers, and how much money you’re spending on each of those lead-generating activities, you cannot measure return on investment, cost per customer, cost per lead, or conversion rate.
Without measuring these four numbers for each type of marketing/advertising activity, you have no idea which things are TRULY working for you!
And while we’re at it, here’s a video to help you attract clients through social media:
I know spending money and time on marketing that doesn’t work is INCREDIBLY frustrating, so put these tips into place this week and watch your spending DECREASE while your effectiveness INCREASES.
If you need more help to find ways to improve your marketing, contact TMH Business Coaching and Consulting today for a confidential, free, no-obligation consultation to propel you forward. Also, please feel free to add yourself to our weekly coaching tips email!
