It is important to regularly assess your marketing efforts to make sure they are producing the results you expect. When you do so, watch out for these signs that should be red flags.
Not Doing Your Homework
We’ve all done it before. We see or hear about a new marketing technique that sounds great. So we throw it into our campaign without a second thought.
Not a good idea.
When you assess your marketing efforts, look for any of these type of tactics that were thrown in without due diligence. Go over them a bit more closely than you do everything else. Make sure they are holding up their weight.
Asking Too Much of the Customer
Fancy marketing tools look good, but they usually do not produce results. Take a look at the things included in your marketing campaign and make sure they are not overly complicated. Are your printed brochures simple and do they convey a single, cohesive message? If not, they are probably turning away more customers than they are bringing in. Customers want to get simple, straightforward answers from your brochures; they are not looking to be entertained by them. If your brochures, or any of your other marketing tools, are too complicated for your customers, change them.
Getting Haphazard
Along the same lines, you have to make sure your marketing campaign is getting your message out. Your message should be simple and cohesive. If you start trying to tell your customers too many different things, they will get confused and frustrated. Come up with one message and stick with it.
Think of some successful marketing techniques. Burger King had the “have it your way” message. AT & T told their customers to “reach out and touch someone.” Everyone knows that Budweiser is “the King of Beers.” Microsoft asked “where do you want to go today?” And UPS is “moving at the speed of business.”
Notice something about each one of these messages? Every one of them is simple, yet memorable. And the company using each message stuck with it, instead of throwing several at customers.
Not Keeping Track
Even the simplest marketing campaign has some things that need to be tracked. Be sure you keep tabs on how much each part of your campaign costs, how long it takes to implement, and how great is its return on investment. Also keep track of any comments or complaints you get from customers (and solicit as many of these as you can).
Your notes should be meticulous. It can be very difficult to truly assess a marketing campaign unless you keep detailed notes. And if you do not have an accurate assessment of your campaign, you may be losing money. Be sure to keep good notes.
If any of these things pop up when you look at your marketing efforts, make whatever changes are necessary to fix them. These are the types of things that will drag your marketing campaign down and cause your business to lose money.
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