The recipe for marketing success isn’t always easy to find. That is because the most effective strategy will be different for every business.
Finding the right tactics for your business and target audience takes research, planning, and a heck of a lot of fine tuning and tweaking!
It almost becomes a labour of love. Taking hours to lovingly craft strategies, copy and source the perfect images. You spend so long in the planning stages that you end up with planning paralysis.
Simply planning and creating it is not the end of the process.
Once your marketing plan is actually executed and out there in the big wide world, you also then need to measure the results. That way, you can tell if your marketing is not working.
How can you tell if it’s working the way you hoped?
Well, here are some of the signs you may see if your marketing isn’t hitting home the way it should be.
The Tell-Tale Signs Your Marketing Is Not Working
You Are Attracting The Wrong People
Any customer is a step in the right direction, right?
Not necessarily.
If your marketing is somehow targeting and attracting people who aren’t a good match for the products or services you offer, your brand will suffer for it.
You might find that you don’t get any take up on your offers as the people seeing your content are not looking for what you offer. Alternatively, clients may expect something that you can’t provide, and you may struggle to serve their needs well.
The thing about marketing is that it isn’t about just attracting any and every possible client. It’s about focusing on – and targeting – the people that your product is right for. If you are bringing in the wrong people, it’s time to review your targeting strategy and ideal customer profile.
Nothing But Crickets…
The last thing you want to hear after putting effort into your marketing is, well, nothing!
Your marketing should elicit some kind of response. Depending on your goals, this could be measured by follower counts, audience engagement, leads, email sign-ups, or click-through rate.
If all you are getting is a big fat nothing, your messaging may be aimed at the wrong channels, or your timing might be off. If this is the case, it’s time to look a little deeper into where your target audience spends their time and when. Then you can do some tweaking to your strategy.
You Are Not Making Any Sales
Engagement and connection are all well and good. But to grow a successful business, you will need to make sales at some point – preferably sooner rather than later!
So, instead of just attracting people and leaving it at that, you need to think about how you might convert them after that initial attraction.
It can take some work to understand your customer’s journey and make sure you are targeting your marketing to attract them when they are making purchasing decisions. When the sales aren’t coming, you may need to look at your messaging, where your clients are viewing your marketing material and work on customer intent.
There Is Very Little Organic Action
If the only activity you see on your social media accounts is the result of paid ads, your brand might be off-target. While the nature of the social media beast can make it tricky to reach everyone all the time, a strong brand with the right messaging and tone should be seeing some organic interaction on their chosen platforms.
Are people liking, commenting on, or sharing your posts? If not, it is likely your marketing is not working as it should be. It is probably time to review your brand identity and voice.
Getting The Strategy Right
The good news is there’s no such thing as a mistake, only a learning opportunity! Each time your marketing misses the mark, you know the exact mix of what does not work and what NOT to do next time. It is an opportunity to hone your focus and reach your audience through making adjustments.
Marketing is always about consistent effort. You can’t just turn the tap on and expect the customers to come pouring in. A robust strategy is essential, along with measuring, analysing, seeking feedback, and continually adjusting your plan to get it just right. If you know the essential ingredients, everything else becomes easier to add, adjust and monitor until you find the sweet spot.
Sometimes it can be hard to generate this holistic view of your business when you are so close to the project. That is why it can be incredibly helpful to have a marketing expert help you create your strategy. They will see things that you are unable to and be able to devise ways of achieving your goals and targets.
That is exactly what we specialise in here at The Marketing Baker. And we would love to help you turn it all around if your marketing is not working. Jump on a free strategy call with our marketing guru Candice Baker and take your first step towards effective marketing.
If you’re finding you’re in this boat, I’ve opened up some spots for an hour zoom session with me (a service I had previously removed). You and I can work through what’s next for you. If you’re needing to adjust your messaging, work through your marketing options or figure out why things aren’t working, let’s chat!