I’ve been lucky enough in my career to have been trained by some incredible, world class marketers. And that’s probably why I get so annoyed when I hear marketing advice being given out by people who don’t really understand what they’re talking about. Many businesses make a lot of mistakes when it comes to marketing. And when budgets are tight, this can be very costly.
If your marketing isn’t working as you think it should be, here are the common things I hear people say about marketing, and the reasons why they’re just not true.
1. Marketing is about communicating to customers
Marketing needs to do far more than just communicate to customers. This is just one element of marketing. Most marketing teams support other departments in one way or another, such as product development, technical, customer service, HR and of course sales. I’ve worked closely with all of these departments to help shape how the company can become more profitable.
Think about all that needs to be done to ensure your business can grow. That’s what marketers do.
2. You need a value proposition to help your brand
I hear phrases like value and brand proposition used all the time, and often out of context and with a complete lack of understanding of what they are. If you don’t understand these terms, then don’t worry about it. Either speak to a professional to see if you need these things, or focus on what you can do. It’s better to do very basic marketing well, than trying to master something you’re not confident with.
For reference, a brand proposition focuses on your brand and what makes you different. A value proposition focuses on the value you offer customers, exploring pain points and gain creators. They’re two completely distinct things.
3. You need to be cold emailing
When I first started working in marketing, getting on the phone and cold calling was very common. But while many people will probably agree that this isn’t an effective method of marketing, I find a vast number of businesses are cold emailing at the moment – which is pretty much the same thing.
By emailing people that have never heard of you with a message that you hope might resonate is like throwing stuff against the wall and hoping it sticks. The success rate is always very, very small.
You can get some results doing this. I’m not saying don’t do it. But think about where it fits into the bigger picture. Are you doing brand awareness alongside this? How are you following it up? Are you just annoying people to the point where you’re putting them off, or is your cold emailing part of a larger marketing plan to increase the chance of conversion?
Those who think about the bigger picture and work to a plan always get better results. Don’t just do activities. Be smarter to get things to work.
4. It’s better to make a profit than have a big marketing budget
Profit is always a good thing. But if you invest some of that profit back into marketing, you could have even more profit next year. If you work to a strategy and plan and you make sure everything is targeted on reaching your objectives, you should never be wasting marketing budget.
5. You don’t need a website today
To be fair, I haven’t heard this very often, but I have heard it. Not having a website for your business means not having your own space on the internet that you control. Don’t get too sucked into social media. Make sure you have your place, where you tell your stories, and you do it all in your own way.
6. The formula to success is…
When I was listing out the things that I hear often that I find confuse people, it’s always someone saying that you must do this or that. For example, you must have a blog, you must have video content, you must post on social media every day of the week, and so on.
The only thing you must do is make your marketing work for you. Every business is different. Every set of resources is different. Every customer base is different. What worked for someone else could completely fail for you because there are so many factors involved in success.
I have seen a lot of people promoting that they will “guarantee success” if you follow their “formula for marketing”. It simply does not work that way. With so many contributing factors, it doesn’t make sense that there is one way to get it right.
The best thing to do is work out what you want to achieve, then plot backwards as to how you’re going to achieve it. Think about who your customers are, where they are, what makes them tick, and what time and budget you’ve got to reach them. Be consistent and persistent, but with clever ideas and a joined up approach. And, most importantly of all, make it work for you.
7. Have lots of messages
I see lots of advice saying that you should not tell someone what you do, but tell them what you can do for them. Work out your value. List out your USPs. None of this is wrong. But if you don’t fully understand what you’re doing, you could end up with such a long, convoluted list of messages, that you’ll get confused, let alone your clients.
I’ve seen websites that are telling customers so many different things, it’s hard to know where to start.
A very wise marketing professor once told me: “If a person remembers three things about your business, that’s a win.” So what three things do you want people to know? Strip it back and everything will be clearer.
Rules
There isn’t a set of rules in marketing to follow. It’s about understanding your business and your clients, and bringing the two together. And there are dozens of different ways to do this. Pick what’s right for you, and you’ll naturally find more success.
If you want to know, please get in touch. We’re always happy to share ideas at Lindsay Woodward Marketing.
