Your marketing budget is a precious commodity. It’s an investment you make for a plan that may not yield good results at all. But of course, since it’s basically your company’s money going into your own stock, you’ll need it to earn profits. Otherwise, it’ll become nothing but loss, like an investment in a crashing stock market.
But surprisingly, many companies admit that their marketing plan is ineffective, which means that they’ve just wasted away their budgets. According to Adobe’s research, which was broadcast in Bplan’s official podcast, 40% of marketing departments think that their companies’ marketing has flopped, and only 21% of companies consider themselves effective at determining mobile ROI. Moreover, only a meager 8% of companies report that can determine ROI from social media, and half of B2B companies are struggling to attribute marketing activity to revenue results.
Thus, before launching yet another campaign for your startup, consider if they’re truly helping in reaching your financial goals, because you may be guilty of the following:
1. You Don’t Adapt Well Change
2020 is a year of massive changes, but that doesn’t mean everyone is embracing it. But to businesses’ credits, many of them adapted well and shifted to an online model, so that their customers can continue enjoying their products despite the crises.
But if you are resistant to change, no matter the year and the circumstances, your marketing plan will eventually fail. Your promotional strategies will become outdated, and people will soon forget your brand or just straight-up ignore it.
However, the solution to this isn’t to change too fast and too frequently either. New trends may pop by the minute, but that’s not a sign that you should join the bandwagon every time. Evolving your brand over time is necessary of course, but re-branding too frequently will lose your brand recognition, and subsequently, your customers.
2. You Invested Too Much Early On
Investing way too much money and time for your marketing plan in the early stages of your business will backfire more often than not. While you want your product or service to find its way into your market fast, you’re still testing the waters at this point, meaning you’re still getting to know your target audience.
In such stage, your marketing plan is a gamble. If you put all your money into Instagram ads, but it turns out that your audience spends more time on Facebook, that’s a perfect example of a marketing budget wasted. Therefore, invest your time and money in research first, then make a decision on where to direct your marketing efforts.
3. You’re Not Engaging with Your Customers Well
These days, customers are seeking brands that boost positivity and spread positive stories. Those are particularly crucial in this period, with COVID-19 almost reaching its first year anniversary. Hence, your brand should show support to healthcare workers, frontliners, and consumers who are greatly affected by this pandemic.
But if you communicate with your audience in a way that tells them what to do, you’re not getting engagement. Such is the case when you use alienating language, which sends a message that anyone who doesn’t use your brand is missing out. That is hard-sell content, and no one is impressed by that anymore.
4. You Only Concentrate on Social Media
Sure, social media is where the majority of customers spend their time, but it’s not the only place to pitch your brand. Don’t forget the old-school marketing tactics that are still effective up to this day, like word-of-mouth advertising, direct mail, and print ads.
Offline marketing is essential if you’re a brick-and-mortar store located in a small town. You should reach out to the local shoppers in your area, and one of the best ways to do that is by catching attention through your storefront, leaflets passed around in the local grocery stores, petrol stations, and shopping malls.
Data Management: The Ultimate Key to Spending Your Marketing Budget Wisely
Another common marketing mistake companies make is not looking at the numbers. This means ignoring your website traffic, ad campaign statistics, number of followers, etc.
To ensure that your marketing budget will be spent wisely, create a marketing scoreboard. This means gathering your existing data and determining which of them is the most promising.
The language of data can sound confusing, though, so enlist a reputable data management company to assist you. The following are the data they will track:
- General Google Analytics statistics
- Ecommerce statistics
- Online goal statistics
- Phone tracking (with and without software)
- Social media
- Referrals
- Offline marketing capabilities
- Newsletters and mail subscribers
- Leads
Track your data monthly, and review the results each time. Studying the numbers will direct your next move, determining where you should target your next campaigns. This will avoid all the mistakes enumerated above, enhancing the likelihood of your marketing budget generating high revenues.
