- Try to do things as cheaply as possible.
Saving money is just common sense, especially when it comes to business, but in marketing, you really do get what you pay for. Though you might make short term savings by cutting corners in your marketing campaign, you can potentially lose a lot more than you intended in the long term. Good quality content writers, designers, SEO specialists, and PR professionals aren’t cheap. Quality work takes time, knowledge, experience and skill. Though you might be tempted to choose the cheapest freelancer out there or maybe even have a go at doing all of your marketing yourself, remember that anything you use to represent your company will leave a lasting impression on the people who interact with it. Badly spelled or grammatically incorrect copy will make you look unprofessional whereas poor design and back end issues such as inaccurate coding or broken links can render websites almost unusable. When you work with professional marketing companies or dedicate staff time and resources to campaigns, you’re making an investment in the overall success of your business.
- Copy the competition
No business is an island and it makes sense to be aware of what the competition is doing so that you understand the culture and environment you’re working in. Blatant copying of ideas will rarely do you any favors, though. Taking inspiration from campaigns you have seen can be helpful but logos, lettering, designs and color schemes that are obviously influenced by a direct competitor will make your business appear unoriginal and desperate. In worst case scenarios, you could even run into legal problems if your competitors consider your material a breach of copyright or too similar to their own content. From a customer’s perspective, copying style, tone or aesthetics can be confusing as well as annoying. Ultimately, though it is impossible not to be influenced in some way, you will need to do something that makes you stand out without looking unoriginal. The most successful brands innovate and start trends, rather then follow them.
- Focus on Data Only
In 2019, there’s more data available to your business than ever before. From keyword research to specific mouse tracking software, you can gather detailed information about what your potential customers like, where they shop and how they interact with social media. Though this is undeniably useful, it is essential to remember that for all the sophisticated developments of the past few years, technology can still be flawed. Bots, scammers, and even legally dubious rivals can influence the data you receive, meaning that reports aren’t always as accurate as they may first appear. Its also important to consider the fundamentally unpredictable nature of people in general. Though you may have done a massive amount of research into shopper marketing, the path to purchase and more, everybody interacts with advertising differently, so never forget to allow for anomalies or irregularities. Just because the data says that most female customers aged 35 and over will potentially convert after watching a video, doesn’t mean that you can take this as a fact. Data should be used as a guideline only when it comes to predicting how well a campaign will perform. It’s old fashioned and can be frustrating for those who like to feel in control, but there really are no guarantees when it comes to digital marketing.
- Repetition and Lack of Imagination
In some cases, repetition can be a great marketing tool, but doing the same thing over and over again for too long will gradually make people lose interest. A few years ago, the sheer novelty of online video content as a marketing tool was enough to make a company stand out among the crowd. These days, poor quality, repetitious videos are often a source of frustration for consumers. Similarly, spamming socials with the same posts over and over again will generally have the opposite to the desired effect. Web users can have short attention spans and even less patience, especially when they feel as if they have seen something too many times already. Even if the content you plan to post has a similar theme, always try to do something that makes it seem unique. This can be as simple as changing the title of an article slightly or using tried and tested techniques such as “how to” guides. Imagination and variation of content are essential. Creating something that engages people and provides something new and interesting is always preferable to diligently pushing the same message in the same way over and over again.
- Rushed or badly conceived campaigns
Sometimes it feels as if you need to produce a campaign as quickly as possible, which is understandable when you’re under pressure, but when projects have been completed too quickly, it always shows. A campaign full of clumsy copy, hastily edited video and poor quality images can actually be worse for your business overall than having no campaign at all. Every piece of content you put out reflects on who you are as a business and directly influences your reputation among clients and customers. Always take the time to analyze your marketing campaigns through the eyes of our potential customers so you can detect any errors, identify the problematic tone of voice and other areas that you may have missed. When you are focusing on keywords, data and the more technical side of marketing, its easy to forget that what you are putting out into the world needs to make sense, engage the audience and ultimately, make your business look as favorable as possible. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, delaying the launch of a campaign to ensure everything is as close to perfect as it can be is often a better approach than churning something out as quickly as possible and hoping for the best.
