Three Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Marketing

No one sets out to damage their strategic marketing.

You value a powerful and creative marketing campaign and work hard to design and build one so your target clients will think of you more favorably.

So it’s easy to understand with all of the work you put into each campaign why you’re completely frustrated when you still do not see the type of results you had hoped to achieve from seeing your strategy in action.

What are you doing wrong?

Because of the litany of writing on the subject of strategic marketing—resources from places like the Marketing Professors to Harvard Business review—it can be difficult to figure out what you’re doing wrong.

Thinking there’s no foolproof system for avoiding marketing missteps completely is not a realistic expectation, but there are certain warning signs you can watch out for as you prepare your next marketing campaign.

Let’s take a look at three common mistakes that you’ll want to avoid:

1. Presuming far too much about your audience

People read more intensely or listen more intently from people or companies they know, and they tend to dismiss marketing messages from those they don’t recognize. This is a fact of life.

The best approach for your company to take if it is not well known, is to acknowledge that fact and start the conversation from there. When you are truthful you are honest, you’re able to build your integrity among your target audience who can begin to understand who your company is and what you have to offer. They’ll be much less likely to tune you out, less likely to delete you or mark you as junk, and they will tend to stay around longer to hear what you’ve got to say.

2. Presuming far too much of your company

If your brand messaging conveys a sense of strong leadership—yet people don’t know who you are or what you do—they will dismiss you just as quickly as you start.

An easy way to solve this problem is to begin with a familiar topic or issue that your audience already has an intrinsic interest in, and offer a solid sure-fire solution that solves their specific problem. Doing so will win you kudos enough to share what you offer.

Another easy way to overcome being less known is to add a solution to each e-mail and related marketing communication you send out. By adding your logo and Website in a prominent location of your communications will more steadily build your company’s brand awareness and market trust over time.

3. Presuming far too much interest in your products

Your marketing campaign doesn’t have to be terrible or ridiculous to be completely disregarded. Often, the worst offense you can commit is to position your brand messaging with the premise that what you have to offer is of real importance to those you’re trying to reach.

Maybe they’re not immediately deleting your e-mails or turning the magazine page where your ad appears, but if they aren’t interested in what you’re sending it’s not likely they will become more excited about your offer by telling them more about it.

It’s far more important to make a promise that you can absolutely keep than provide a laundry list of all of the supposed benefits of using your product. By making reasonable promises you’ll be able to discern what is and is not resonating with your audience and adjust accordingly.

Planning for success

Swimming upstream is never fun. It takes much more time and energy than most are willing to commit to a relatively unknown company. So be realistic of your company’s current position in the market and plan your strategic marketing accordingly. Doing so can earn you big results with believable statements that create healthy relationships built on trust.

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Tom Wants To Hear Your Branding Issues:
Tom Marin, Managing Partner of MarketCues, wants to hear from you! Follow MarketCues on Twitter for branding and social media tips, as well as the latest trends. Tom also welcomes e-mails, new LinkedIn connections, calls to (407) 330-7708 or visit www.marketcues.com. How can he help solve your branding issues?

Note: If you are a printing company or product/services company serving the print-media market, and would like to be considered for a feature in this blog, please contact Tom Marin for an interview.