Marketing not working? Nothing is more frustrating than putting in a lot of hard work into your marketing only to see it not have the desired effect. You might start to feel like you’re doing something wrong, like you’re just not cut out for this marketing thing after all. But before you give up, take a look at these 17 ways to get out of your marketing funk and start seeing results.
You aren’t the only one freaking out. In fact nearly half of all professional marketers are completely overwhelmed by marketing technology! Take a look at this:
Why is your marketing not working?
There are three main areas you need to look at when you see your marketing not working: your business, your audience and your
Let’s take a look at each one.
Business
All business growth comes from new customers who want what you’re selling and who are willing to pay a profitable price for what you’re selling. This is an uncomfortable thing to look at — especially if you’re a consultant or coach.
You know that people want, and need, and will be transformed by what your’e offering — but you can’t seem to connect with them in a way that has them choosing YOU to help them.
When businesses fail, it’s because you aren’t getting enough customers to recognize that they want what you’re selling and are willing to pay for what you’re selling.
Audience
If you’re a business owner who has said “everyone” can use my product or service, this could also be a reason your marketing isn’t working.
One of the fastest ways to get instant success is to find the right audience. This means finding target customers or a target audience who is desperate for what you are selling, values what you’re offering and is ready and able to make a purchasing decision
Take a fresh look at who your target audience is and see if you need to tweak your audience, expand your audience, or find a completely new audience.
Marketing strategy
Professional marketers have really confused small business owners with this whole
But here’s what they won’t tell you. There are only 3 marketing strategies; content marketing, direct marketing, and advertising. Yep. That’s it. Everything else is a tactic or channel through which you implement your
What’s YOUR Ideal Strategy? Take our “Marketing Superpower” Quiz and find out!
Just remember, a good
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How to Measure Marketing Performance
First, it’s important to understand how to measure marketing performance. By tracking your results, you can see what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments accordingly. Here are a few tips for measuring the performance of your marketing campaigns:
Track website traffic
Over 50% of marketers say keyword rankings and organic traffic are the top ways they measure the success of their SEO strategies. (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2021)
(Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
This is a good indicator of how well your marketing is working overall. If traffic is going up, it means you’re reaching more people and your marketing is effective. If traffic is going down, it means you need to make some changes.
How to track website traffic: Here is an easy way to track website traffic with Google Analytics
Track leads
Tracking leads is a good way to measure the effectiveness of your lead generation efforts. If you’re seeing an increase in leads, it means your marketing is working. If leads are decreasing, then you need to adjust your strategy.
How to track your lead generation: Tracking your leads isn’t as complicated as you think. You can simply run a log of incoming calls or even organize your emails in a way that you can file emails in a lead gen folder.
Track conversion rates
This will tell you how well your marketing is converting leads into customers. If the conversion rate is going up, it means your marketing is working well. If it’s going down, then you need to make some changes.
Your marketing automation or email marketing tool is a great place to start tracking conversion rates. Just remember that your email open rates are no longer a good metric (this is a web 3.0 thing you can read more here). Instead, focus on the percentage of your email recipients click on the links in your emails.
Track engagement
This includes things like social media engagement, email open rates, and click-through rates. If people are interacting with your content and taking the desired action, then your marketing is working. If not, then you need to make some changes.
With that out of the way, let’s get into your marketing funk-busting tips
1. Focus on your strengths
The best marketing strategy for inexpensive and effortless marketing is to build it around your natural strengths. There’s nothing that will derail your marketing efforts like not CHOOSING a
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To identify your strength, just think back to a customer you gained and look at exactly what it is about that relationship that is so successful.
What is it about YOU that is so appealing to them? It could be your energy or the fact that you deliver quickly. Whatever it is — build your natural ability into a competitive strength.
This article is for the “ALL” Marketing Superpowers
Want to know what YOUR marketing superpower is?
2. Turn your strength into a success process
One of the biggest reasons why your marketing hits a slump is because you’ve chosen marketing strategies or a marketing campaign that worked for someone else, but isn’t working for you.
Know what you need to be successful and be rigorous in defending it. Don’t take on any customers that don’t fit your formula for success
Stop throwing your time and money into marketing silver bullets peddled by marketing experts, and getting wrapped up in over-the-top results without stopping to consider how well these digital marketing tactics work with your own personal style.
Instead, set up a marketing budget in advance that allows you to comfortably work a marketing plan and take on marketing activities that fit your strengths and personal style.
3. Identify your ideal customer
Just because a company has a well-known name and is giving you money doesn’t make them an ideal customer. An ideal customer is FIRST a profitable customer. That means that the business system that you’ve created meets their needs and provides enough value that they are happy to pay the price. The third element is, of course, that there is a mutual like of doing business together.
4. Find out what’s important to your ideal customer
It’s not uncommon to have a customer you like that likes you back, and an offer that they are willing to pay for, but if there’s something that’s important to them that isn’t covered, a dream customer will turn into a nightmare.
5. Know your competitive advantage
Take the time to do a thorough exploration and analysis of what sets you apart from other alternatives your customers are considering. Embrace your advantage. Be sure that your competitive advantages address potential objections that your customers might have
6. Create a compelling brand story – and tell it often
The way to really make marketing easy, effortless and inexpensive is to leverage your brand story. What is it that drives your business? Why did you start your business? What is it that you believe or value? Is there a dirty little secret in your industry that you reveal? Create a story that’s centered on the value that you discover and bring to your ideal customer.
7. Use a keyword rich catch-phrase
Dr. Phil is known for his phrase “How’s that workin’ for ‘ya”. It’s something he says often and it goes with his in-your-face style. What is it that you find yourself saying often? Become known for a phrase or two in your business and you’ll have a wonderful branding and marketing tool that you can really leverage.
8. Fish in your ideal customer pond
Once you’ve identified your ideal customer – be where they are. It’s that simple. Think about attending the trade shows that your customers attend and exhibiting there. Don’t just go to industry shows where your competition is – go to the shows where your customers are. If you can’t exhibit there, create an educational or informational topic your customers will appreciate and present it.
9. Reject customers and projects that don’t fit your ideal
When you get that “Why is my marketing not working” feeling, look no further than your existing customers. How many of them aren’t really your ideal customer? How many of them are eating up your time, not paying for your time, and keeping you from marketing to better customers.
If you’re going to focus on your ideal customer, you’d think it was logical to reject anyone who doesn’t fit that profile, but, most businesses don’t. Create a sales process that weeds through the wrong customers to get to the right ones. Any prospect that doesn’t fit your ideal profile has a high probability of becoming a dissatisfied, disgruntled customer that will make your life and your bottom line a living hell.
10. Connect with influencers and help them build THEIR brand
Become laser focused on those people and organizations that are connected to large groups of your ideal customers. Take the time to choose those centers of influence with whom you can create a win-win scenario and help them build their brand. In return, you will see your influence and brand grow as well. Back to the Oprah examples of Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and the rest of her discovered talent. They served Oprah well and in return, she grew their brand beyond anything they could have done themselves.
11. Run a referral strategy
Referrals are not a surprise or a gift or a happy accident. They can be a function of a
Create a
Marketing Not Working Take Aways
There’s no need to feel discouraged if your marketing’s not working – these eleven tips will help you turn things around! With a little effort, you’ll be well on your way to reaching your target market!
Notice that the biggest investment that each of these items requires is thinking time.
But the power of this checklist comes in the quality of thinking and analysis more than in the implementation.
