8 ways to avoid the negative effects of bad marketing

Is your marketing helping your business or hurting it? Well, all marketing is good, right? Not so! You could be implementing a bad marketing strategy for your business that is taking up valuable time and money. In the same way that there is a right way and a wrong way to change the oil in your car, there is a right way and a wrong way to put together your marketing strategy.

You may notice that things are just not moving forward. While sometimes you need to let a marketing strategy settle, sometimes it’s just bad marketing. Here’s what to look out for and how to avoid missteps.

#1: Changing technologies

Technology can make things easier and more efficient, but it also means keeping a closer watch on what your audience is doing. Bad marketing strategies will either just blindly adopt anything new or they will completely ignore the potential for change. Your first question should be: what is my audience doing? If your audience has seamlessly adopted all of the new technologies, then you should consider either expanding your skill set or hiring someone else. The worst thing you can do is operate in a way that doesn’t connect with your audience.

#2: Blanket techniques

The thought behind these strategies is that you just target everyone and see who buys what you’re selling. This can be very problematic when it comes to alienating your audience who would actually be interested. Take the time to do your foundational work up front to figure out who your target audience is. Unless you have unlimited budget and a careful PR strategy, targeting too many different types of people can backfire (Just look at what happened to Shea Moisture!)

#3: Incorrect audience targeting/segmentation

Do your research and watch how your audience targets respond when you market to them. You may find that you are trying to reach the wrong people. Figuring out the nitty gritty of what your audience wants is key to avoiding a bad marketing strategy. If you are targeting the wrong audience, then it won’t matter what you do, no one will buy what you’re selling.

#4: Lack of differentiation

Unless you’re selling something completely unheard of, you likely have competitors. Figure out what makes you stand out from the group and focus on that. You need to be able to answer the question “Why would someone purchase from me and not my competitor?”

#5: Not keeping up with your competition

You need to stay on top of what your competitors are doing so you can either stay ahead of the game, stay on par, or differentiate by focusing on your “old school” approach. This means listening to what your customers have to say and paying attention to marketing campaigns from your competitors.

#6: Lack of or poor strategic objectives

Did you skip over the fundamentals when you built your strategy? You know the steps where you create your value proposition and decide on key milestones for the business? Even if you have been operating for a while, it is better late than never when it comes to setting strategic objectives to get you going on the right track.

#7: Investment in the wrong areas of your marketing strategy

If you aren’t sure about where you are spending your money and time, it’s a good idea to speak to a third party who can help you build a strategy that makes sense for your brand.

#8: Think before you market

There has been an onslaught of tone deaf marketing campaigns over the past few years. While your brand should align itself with causes that fit your core values and ethical viewpoints, you need to make sure the message you are putting out there fits the cause. Recently, Pepsi did an ad with Kendall Jenner that was taken down after a few days. While they meant well, they didn’t anticipate how their imagery and message could be interpreted.

Bad marketing can happen to anyone. You need to figure out the root cause of the issue and then address it head on. Ignoring it out of laziness or thinking you don’t have the resources to fix the problem will only make things worse.

We can help you tackle your strategy to avoid the negative effects of bad marketing and we’re only a call away!