Even the most seasoned Marketers can sometimes fall prey to some basic marketing mistakes that cost thousands of dollars and lead to a loss of goodwill. Here is a checklist of the three most common marketing blunders and how to avoid them.
- Using the wrong language: The words in your marketing message need to match your target audience’s tastes perfectly. Companies sometimes use jargons and acronyms which they love. However, using the same language that is spoken and understood within your company for external audiences is a marketing blunder to be avoided at all costs. A call tracking report at keyword level can help identify the popularity of keywords amongst your target audience. This information would be very useful in appropriately segmenting your target audience and delivering appealing messages for different tastes. One man’s meat is another man’s poison.
What works for a particular sub-group of your audience may be distasteful to another sub-group. A marketing message that aims to generically capture everyone’s attention will capture no one’s attention. Results will always be better when keeping the customer’s unique language preferences in mind. - Not measuring performance: Another marketing mistake is an over-reliance on your gut feeling regarding what marketing channel and message to use. The billboard that you see while driving home daily may be aesthetically appealing to you. However, if you try and emulate it, you may not get the same results. Hence, it is critical to use a tracking mechanism that tells you exactly which of your marketing channels generate results. Call tracking analysis reports can track which of your marketing campaign (online and offline) generate the most phone calls. You will also know which of your phone calls actually materialize in sales. Through call recordings you can get unique insights into why your phone calls did not result in sales. Hence, relying on hard-core data gives you the tools to fine-tune your marketing decisions for maximizing your Return on Investment (ROI)
- Lack of credibility: The proliferation of technology means that consumers can quickly educate themselves about product features through online knowledge sharing. The consumer can find out facts about your product offering through online reviews and social media makes it possible for everyone to have access to information extremely quickly. This means that marketing messages need to be completely and absolutely credible. For example, if a fast food shop starts advertising “healthy burger” then the message will be seen as deceptive and social media channels offer a great channel for spreading news about messages that are misleading. If the Burger Joint in the above example has made a very conscious effort and altered the recipe to include low fat meat, olive oil cooking, fresh vegetables etc. and is promoting this then it will be acceptable. However, if the word “healthy” is used as a mere marketing technique then beware. Any false claims can, and usually will, be quickly discovered with the potential of back-firing.
All in all, it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to avoiding simple marketing errors that can lead to harming your company’s reputation
