6 Reasons Why - The Darwin Agency

6 Reasons Your Advertising Never Works

Business Owners: Are you tired ‘losing’ money on advertising? That’s not the way it’s supposed to work, is it? Nope…You’re advertising dollars are supposed to bring you profits, not losses...

Here are 6 likely reasons why your marketing dollars aren’t working for you:

You’re trying to ‘Brand’ your business:

I’ve watched hundreds of businesses throw tens of thousands of dollars a year into online, print, radio and television advertisements without knowing if the advertising is even working. In fact, they were convinced by savvy advertising reps from the day that they open their doors that they need to brand their business. But I have news for you:

Branding must be a byproduct of selling massive quantities of a great product, service, and hopefully both…

An alarming number of business owners follow the lead of the big players in the advertising arena. It’s easy to take their lead, because there is relatively little accountability associated with the concept of “branding” your business. You could easily spend $10,000 a week on local radio ads, which your advertising rep would proudly defend as “great branding.” He would undoubtedly follow that statement up with “how do you know it hasn’t made an impact in your business.”

Here is the answer to that question:

If you don’t know if a marketing effort was successful, then there is no room for it in your marketing campaign

If you are the marketing director of a business, you are being held accountable for your marketing’s success or failures. If there isn’t a way to establish and present results to your boss, then you’re fired. If you are the boss, and there isn’t a way to know the results of a given marketing initiative, then your business will quickly bury itself.

Period!

Branding is based on the phenomena of recency, and is tied to a main objective of taking market share from your company’s competition. If an advertising rep is trying to sell you a ‘branding’ package, quickly escort him to the door.

2. You’re not being selective of who you’re marketing to:

You can’t be everything to everyone, so stop trying. Most business owners accept any client, customer, or patient that has a breath and a heartbeat. And then there are others who chase business away if they don’t fit a certain criteria. Guess which one has the ability to charge the most for their product or service? It’s the later of the two. Why? Because of positioning. They’ve positioned themselves in the marketplace as providing a premium product or service, so therefore they can charge a premium and chase away undesirable customers. Interesting concept, huh?

For many businesses in America, their target market might have just shifted. Three years ago, a business who marketed to men between the ages of 30-50 making $65 thousand a year and up, might have to raise that base income level to $85,000 or even $100,000. Many people have less disposable income these days, so pay attention to who is coming through your doors since we entered The Great Recession. Are people objecting to price now more than they were before? You might need to target a more affluent prospect to make the same marketing return on investment that you’re used to. In fact, you should have been marketing to them all along…

So, don’t market to everybody. At the very best, you waste a tremendous amount of money marketing to people who are not interested in who you are, what you have to say, or the value that you offer. You will probably capture some passersby on the way who end up buying from you. But are they your ideal customer? Are they someone who will refer business your way? Or are they someone who will nickel and dime you until they feel that they’ve whittled you down to your lowest price.

Now, more than ever, I urge you to shed that thought process and become as selective of your target market as they are of selecting you.

3. You’re not tracking your results:

I know, I know. Tracking your marketing efforts adds more work for you and your staff. But tracking every marketing effort is a critical step in systemizing your marketing.

Now more than ever, you need to make sure that your marketing is a reliable machine with predictable results. From tracking phone calls, to online sales, to lead scoring, to unconverted prospects--everything must be tracked, quantified and documented.

For smaller businesses, an Excel spreadsheet will do. For larger businesses with affiliate programs and complicated online campaigns, there is a selection of great software on the market that can do the tracking for you. Either way, you need to understand what works and what doesn’t. I know it might be daunting to track every little ad you run, but if you want to grow your business, you need to know which mark you need to beat.

4. You don’t map our your marketing plan:

I mean this quite literally:

This is a critical first step in making your marketing efforts work for you, instead of against you. Everything needs to be mapped out. There are many great mapping tools out there to help you create an actual map, but even using a word processor or PowerPoint will work.

The point is to create a map of how your marketing will lead you to a great return on your marketing investment.

The mapping process should include this information and much more. Each business will require a unique set of maps in order to systemize your marketing processes. Understand that the more structure you add to the mapping process, the greater chance you will have of reaching your goals and ultimately systemizing your marketing:

What is the objective of the campaign?
What are the goals of the campaign?
What products or services are you selling?
Who are you marketing to?
What is the best way to reach them
What is the call to action?
What will follow-up look like? Online? Offline? Both?
What are the total costs associated with campaigns? This includes media buying, production, follow-up

**5. You don’t really understand your campaign objectives:**

By ‘objective’ I mean to say, what is your desired outcome. Not all of your marketing efforts can lead to an immediate sale after someone sees your advertisement. Here are a few of examples of what I mean:

For most of the businesses that we work with at The Darwin Agency, developing a large list of qualified prospects has become their greatest strategy.

Are you a mortgage broker who helps distressed homeowners? If so, you rely on a “hard, fast sale” where the less time a prospect has to think about their options, the better it will be for your company. Or, do you sell customized cruising yachts with a 2-year sales cycle, where you want your prospects to take their time to learn your product so you can position it as “superior” to your competition. Understanding what you are selling will make a huge difference in where and how you advertise. And in both instances, you need to have an objective tied to every advertisement that you run.

For example, if you are a business with a long sales cycle, your objective needs to be to generate leads in order to market to them over time. This is called ‘Lead Nurturing’ and works by educating prospects until they’ve developed enough trust and knowledge in your company to make a buying decision.

Lead Nurturing will simultaneously shorten the sales cycle and provide your business with a more educated buyer. You will most likely want to run ads, create direct mail pieces, and design your website in such a way that compels your target market to hand over their personal information. Afterwards, you can continue to market to them using email, direct mail, and even telemarketing where appropriate.

6. You strategy is not well thought out, and, well…SUCKS!

You can’t just throw an ad in a newspaper anymore with your business name and phone number. This strategy worked about a ‘century’ ago…but I still see it happening
EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Here are some scenarios:

Business A:

You own a medical spa with a new machine that removes cellulite from the hips and thighs permanently.

Business B:

You are a financial advisor who specializes in clients with portfolios over $1 million.

Business C:

You own a night club in a metropolitan area.

Some Ideas Worthy of Testing…

For the medical spa example: Rent a list of women between the ages of 35 and 60 with an income over $100,000 per year within 25 miles of your facility. A clever direct mail piece could work well here. Send them a mailer with instructions on how to view the entire, painless procedure from beginning to end from your website. But here is the trick, you need to get their first, last and email address beforehand. Now you can continue to market to that warm prospect until she makes a decision to buy, or tells you to leave her alone. Simple…

For the financial advisor example, run some ¼ page ads in targeted publications that reach out to an older, baby boomer demographic. Try offering a “Don’t Outlive Your Nest-egg Kit” that includes a video introduction with your staff and your financial strategies, along with video testimonials from satisfied clients. The kit can also include case studies, and a “free financial analysis worth $500”. Now you’re developing a list of men and women who are interested in your product/service, and who are likely to buy from you at some point if you continue to market to them effectively.

For the night club, choose a radio station that reaches the demographic that you’re trying to capture and create a ‘text-to-win’ campaign (using text message marketing) with an irresistible offer. Have the radio spot say: Text the word CLUB to 8765 and enter to win our nightly VIP giveaway! 2 bottles of Grey Goose Vodka given away nightly, for 2 lucky contestants. What are you waiting for? If you’ve ever even considered going to Lucky’s Tavern, Text 67856 to the word CLUB now!”

Now, you can develop a huge cell phone database of people who have “considered” going to their club. Once the database is developed, you can communicate with your prospects with a click of a button. Talk about getting the most out of your advertising dollar!

There you have it. I hope at least one of these tips will help you develop a more effective marketing strategy.

Still not convinced you’re the right person to handle your marketing? Well…that’s all I do, all day long, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for over 6 years now.

Feel free to contact me directly if you need a professionally crafted marketing strategy.

Michael MacDougall
CEO of The Darwin Agency:
michael@thedarwinagency.com
954-916-7977