Common Reasons Your Marketing Fails

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I see a ton of different marketing campaigns as well as hear the results of those campaigns, and I’ve noticed that many people make the same mistakes, causing their campaigns to fail. Here are some of the most common problems I’ve found.

Not Having Good, Clean Data For Marketing

At Newsletter Pro, we see a ton of campaign data. As you can imagine, it comes in all shapes and sizes. But the rarest form is good, clean data. Most people have information, but it is rarely uniform and up to date. Your lists need to be validated on a regular basis and segmented into categories that make sense for your business. Having clean data allows you to be more efficient and effective with your marketing, and it improves results. One of the main reasons marketing campaigns fail is bad data. If you send a campaign to the wrong group of people or people who never see the message, it won’t amount to anything. Having clean data is worth your investment.

Lacking Clarity In Your Marketing Campaign

It is important to be very clear in your marketing about whom the offer is for and what it includes. Many people think that sending 3 offers at once increases the likelihood of a response, but in many cases, it actually decreases response. When prospects are confused, they simply won’t buy. It is far easier for a prospect to do nothing than to try and decipher your crowded marketing campaign to understand what you’re offering. Be clear on what your customers or clients get, how they will benefit from your offer, exactly how they should respond when they need to respond by, and why it is better to respond immediately instead of waiting until later.

Giving Up Before Your Prospects Even Notice You

I went to a small-group meeting about 2 years ago, and the guest speaker was Tony Robbins. Tony talked about nurturing prospects and customers in marketing — a message I’ve preached more and more lately. One thing Tony said was that it used to take 8 touches for someone to even notice you existed. However, as of a few years ago, it now takes 16 touches before prospects are aware of you. Most businesses give up far too early in terms of the number of touches needed to make a sale. This is where prospect nurturing comes in. At Newsletter Pro, we often hear from people who are ready to sign up only after receiving our direct mail and emails for 1–4 years. If I gave up on our leads sooner, we’d be a far smaller company.

We often have to send emails and direct mail as well as make phone calls to get our information in front of prospects. Then, they have the ability to make the decision that is best for them. You don’t need quite so many touches to get the attention of your existing customers, but that doesn’t mean only reaching out a couple of times. You have to put a system in place to automate as many of those touchpoints as possible and hit as many different forms of media as necessary. If you want help with that, schedule a call with my team. They’d be happy to chat about how we can assist you. Visit NewsletterPro.com/schedule or call 208-297-5700.

Failing To Get To A State Of Neutral Churn

The final major mistake I wanted to mention goes back to underutilizing your list. Every business has churn (lost revenue or lost customers due to cancellations). Smart entrepreneurs work to reduce churn, but if you really want to take your business to the next level, get it to a state of neutral churn. That means putting marketing campaigns in place that increase what your existing customers spend with you each month or year. The goal is that, eventually, every dollar you lose to a customer who downgrades or cancels is made up with a new dollar from a customer upgrading. This is not an easy task, but it will propel your revenue and profit growth to unimaginable levels. Since this isn’t easy, many people just bury their heads in the sand. However, even a small decrease in churn — combined with a small increase in purchases by existing customers — will significantly improve the overall profits of your business.