8th Jul 2015

Are You Your Own Worst Marketing Enemy?

You have to have many things to be a great marketing agency executive. You need to be creative, hardworking, innovative, in tune, expressive, good with technology, a people person and much, much more. It’s not an easy job, but it is worth it… most of the time.

Every successful marketing campaign starts with a good, solid marketing strategy that employs all of a marketers experience, education and talents, but even with the hardest working, best will in the world, the project can still go horribly wrong right from the start. There are a million factors that can make a project implode, including alien abduction, but there are four basic marketing myths that are rampant in the industry that you should let go of right now – or you’re destined to fail from the start. Even solid gold, 24 carat, blockbuster, Half time Superbowl advertising will not escape the garbage can unless you avoid these common mistakes.

SPEED IS OF THE ESSENCE

Do all the best things is life come at you at 500 kms an hour? No, not really. There are some exceptions to that rule, but in general the best things come to those who wait. It’s the same with marketing. If you take your laptop home for the evening and work all night concocting a killer advertising campaign you are likely to come out with a plan, but not a well thought out one.

Time is one of the most important variables in marketing. Right place, right platform – right time. There are also budgets, advertising methods and venues, the marketing calendar, key players to consider, oh! And … do I really need to go on? You get the picture. To make sure you have right marketing in the most effective place, you need to the take time to be sure that everything is precisely as it needs to be. Putting the plan away for a while, or adjourning the decision until you’ve thought it through completely, including considering all the consequential ramifications, you set yourself up for a miss. Whether you miss by an inch or mile it doesn’t really make any difference as either way you missed the opportune moment and the domino effect will sabotage the rest of the campaign.

One of the best things you can do, even if your back is against the wall time wise, is take each element of your campaign, look at it in context , then in isolation and the possible effects it could have on the project for the negative and positive. All the possibilities will not come to you in one sitting, you need to take some time away to regenerate your brain power because as you do inspiration will come. There’s always major one factor you don’t remember that hits you when you’re just about to sleep, in the bath or talking to your mother on the phone. Take the time to do it right, right from the start.

NO MAN IS A MARKETING ISLAND

It doesn’t matter whether you are the owner of a Small to medium business (SMB) or a marketing professional, you can’t do a whole marketing plan without a little help from your friends. It’s not possible for one person to be creator, designer, marketer, web developer, copywriter and analyst all rolled into one. You need to ask around to find the expertise you lack so don’t be afraid to ask for advice.

You know your business best, that’s not the issue here, even knowing your own business it’s good to get a fresh perspective on where you’re going and some ideas on how to get there.

DON’T LOOK BACK! (You’re not going that way)

This one is a toughie. It’s so tempting to sit down and review what you have done in the past that has been successful, but is that really a recipe for success? Why not go one step ahead and just cross out all last year’s dates on your material and pencil in these years? That would save you bucket loads of time and money – it may even work – but the chances of success are very slim. Times change, audience needs change and seasons vary. You want each campaign to be as successful as it can and you won’t know unless you do something different.

Ringing the changes is a good marketing strategy to employ in any situation. Try new things! Try quotes on your blog, A/B test something you thought was dead cert, try banners, make a video, exhibit at a trade show or start a different online marketing campaign, whatever you haven’t done before. The more you know, the more devices you can integrate in a mixed media marketing package and keep your image fresh – and at the forefront of the minds of your consumer audience.

Marketing is a journey of learning. If you don’t keep pushing the boundaries, approaching things from a different angle or applying a new principle you’ll never know if it works, or make exciting discoveries that set you apart from all the rest. All these elements keep your marketing ahead of the curve.

NIX THE NEMESIS IDEA

If you’re in business, you have a nemesis. It’s that one company that you perceive to be in direct competition with the notion that they are out to get you. If you feel this doesn’t apply to you because your product is so niche that no one can touch it, nix that idea too. In fact, nix all ideas about competition all together. It’s just not healthy for a marketing campaign.

For each new campaign take a little time to find companies that are similar to yours and evaluate how they execute their marketing campaigns, what you do/do not like about them and how effective they are. They could be anywhere round the world or on the internet and may not be in direct competition, but close enough for you to get a good idea of what your marketing needs to look like.

Forget any idea of having anyone that you need to compete with as it will taint everything you attempt. It will destine you to failure because you’re focusing on the wrong goal. Fill your head with equipping yourself with the information you need to construct the best marketing campaign you can, and be so good they can’t forget you.

These are only four of the marketing myths that exist that you need to avoid on your next campaign, but  opening your mind to what you could do is a great strategy to a memorable campaign that brings you results – and also avoids you having to employ alien abduction as your piece de la resistance…

Resources:

http://marketingland.com/digital-marketing-the-past-present-future-54405

http://www.slideshare.net/arshkoul1/marketing-past-present-and-future

http://arcreactions.com/5-highly-influential-online-marketing-practices-will-shape-2015/

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/marketing-21st-century-means-1497.html