Have you ever experienced the frustration of spending weeks or even months on a marketing campaign, just for it to not result in any valuable traction or generate any quality leads? If you answered yes, then you might need to rethink your overall approach and strategy to developing, executing and communicating your marketing efforts and/or campaigns. Luckily, we have suggested 5 key reasons why your marketing efforts may feel futile and have outlined relevant steps you can take to mitigate the risk of futile marketing.
1. Your marketing feels like marketing
One of the most important reasons your marketing may not attract your target audience may simply be because your marketing feels like marketing! And you might be thinking, well isn’t that what it is supposed to feel like? Well, the reality is that many people and viewers are often very easily put off by marketing which feels like a pushy sales pitch and does not take into consideration the audience, their pain points and their needs from the likes of your product or service. Therefore, rather than purely trying to “sell”, the focus of your marketing communications should be on areas where your target audience is most likely experiencing challenges with, or in which they are seeking useful information about. For example, one way to do this is to focus on relatable and empathetic storytelling, as well as creating and publishing relevant educational content such as articles, webinars or eBooks.
2. You are trying to be everywhere, targeting everything and everyone at the same time
Realistically, it is impossible to target everyone everywhere at the same time, and that is why a strong and well-thought-out segmentation, targeting and positioning strategy is crucial for the success of your marketing efforts. This is because through segmentation, you are able to divide a broad market into smaller parts, based on your strengths and expertise and what you can offer to that specific group of audience. This will help you create a more manageable target market to cater to and based on segments such as demographics, geographic, behaviours or needs, which in turn can help you communicate more effectively with your target market as you are delivering more tailored and personalised messaging. It is also important to consider your positioning when defining your target market, as this will help your unique value proposition to shine through in a competitive landscape.
3. You marketing efforts are inconsistent
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your marketing strategy and success. Consistent marketing is a key factor in ensuring you receive the best outcome and return on investment from your marketing efforts. Often, you may find yourself frustrated with the results of one campaign, on which you may have made a notable investment in. However, it is important to remember that your marketing efforts will be a marathon, rather than a sprint. This is because you need to consider the stages in the buyer journey and what is important at each stage, so that you are able to nurture your target audience, who will eventually convert into paying customers. Remember, whilst the goal of sales is to close deals and make a sale right here and there, the upmost goal of marketing is to be the brand on top of mind when the buyer has reached the stage of purchase along their journey.
4. You are focusing on selling the features and not the benefits
When crafting marketing messages, it’s essential to shift the focus from merely listing features to highlighting the tangible benefits your product or service offers. Features tell what a product does, but benefits show how it can improve the lives of your customers. For example, instead of saying, “our software has a high-speed processor,” you should emphasise how that translates into a smoother, more efficient experience for the user, such as “Our software lets you get more done in less time, freeing you to focus on what truly matters.” By centring your messaging on the outcomes your customers will enjoy, you make it easier for them to see the real value and connect emotionally with your product, which ultimately drives better engagement and higher sales.
5. You have no marketing objectives or metrics in place to measure success
So, you’ve run a marketing campaign and followed all the rules, now what? Without having a clear direction and expectation of what success is for your business, your business is essentially navigating without a map and that’s why it becomes almost impossible to feel like your marketing is working. Determining well-defined goals for your marketing campaigns which align with your overall marketing and business strategy will give direction and purpose to your efforts. Without these, it becomes impossible to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, identify what’s working, or make data-driven decisions for improvement. This lack of focus can lead to wasted time and resources, missed opportunities, and ultimately, a failure to achieve meaningful results. Using customer relationship management (CRM) software such as Hubspot, Salesforce, or Dreamdata, which provide tools for data-driven campaign results can be extremely useful in helping measure the success of your marketing campaigns.
If you would like to learn more about crafting an effective marketing strategy or campaign, reach out to us for a free and personalised coaching session!