Why Does My Marketing Fail?
Nobody shows up. It’s quiet in the restaurant and the phone is not ringing. You thought your latest marketing would cause your phone to be ringing off the hook. But, nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Why Does My Marketing Fail?
Skeptical of marketing? Worried that the money you spend on those newspaper ads, radio spots and the latest GROUPON was a waste? Maybe your direct mail wasn’t a home run. Marketing can be a discouraging and difficult process. Once the decision is made and the money is spent – we hope for a huge, massive impact. You want your phone and email inbox to be flooded with customers seeking what you have to sell… Here are some reasons why your marketing activities may be failing.
1. It’s All About Me
Remember that when you’re marketing your business, people don’t want to read all about YOU, they want to read about specific needs that you will fulfill for THEM. What benefit does your product or service provide that helps your prospect or client?
2. You Only Tried it Once!
You thought putting something out there once was going to be all it took to gain more traffic. Reality sets in. You just spent X amount of dollars, and you’ve got nothing to show for it. There is almost no form of marketing that works great the first time, and it takes weeks or months of beating that same drum before it will start to stick in someone’s mind.
3. What Does This Mean?
What sounded amazing didn’t ring a bell with anyone. You’ve taken your message and mulled it in your head a thousand times and feel it is worth reading and hearing. That doesn’t mean that it will grab attention. Your message is untested with your market and until you’ve tested it, you’re not going to know if it rings true with others. A quick tip is to create a Facebook ad with several versions and spend $5 on each. The one that does the best there will also likely do the best in other places.
But there is good news!
While there isn’t a foolproof approach that works across the board, the Small Business Bonfire team has a great list of marketing tactics that have brought about more traffic. Here are a two tips that are worth investing in:
- Direct Leads – You want direct communication with a customer, but direct snail mail is expensive and mostly impersonal. If you have a business website and/or a Facebook business page, start using these platforms to collect email addresses so you can start direct communication. Consider offering a tip guide or free download for whatever service is your specialty. If they sign up for this free guide with their email, you’ve locked in a potential/current customer.
- Local Relationships – Fostering relationships with people in your local community lends credibility to you as a business owner; people generally want to share with others about businesses that they’ve personally connected with. Organize some time out of your week to attend local functions that are free and available to you. This generates a healthy word-of-mouth cycle, and builds relationships in a lasting and genuine way.
Look at your data. What are you “open” rates telling you in the emails you send out? Where do you see the greatest traction for your business? Don’t be afraid to shake things up and try something new. Of course, you don’t want to be constantly bouncing from one activity to the next, but sometimes it just takes moving away from “the way it’s always been done” to see results.
