When your marketing strategy isn't working
It happens. You have all the best intentions and for some reason your marketing strategy isn't working. Believe it or not, it has happened to some of the biggest businesses on the planet; think Kodak and Microsoft.
The smaller you are, the more nimble you can be become and this gives you flexibility to change and adapt fast.
When a marketing strategy isn't working, it tends to be for a number of reasons;
- Your marketing strategy was written by you, and not a professional
- Your people are not aligned to your business strategy and marketing strategy
- Your sales people are hopeless at selling and completely unmotivated
- Change is foreign to you and your team, so when marketing changes, you are last to take it on-board
- Execution of your marketing strategy comes to a halt when people get busy
- Your brand, website and marketing collateral is telling yesterday's story
- The market is slow, buyers have changed their buying habits and you haven't mapped out the new customer journey correctly
- Your product or service needs work
It can happen to the best of us. No marketing strategy is fallible. In fact, some of the most experienced marketers have written marketing strategies that don't work, and had to go back and re-think what they are doing all over again. That isn't the worse problem to have, but inaction is. If you don't do anything about the fact that your marketing strategy isn't working, your business may end up being on its last legs - and no-one wants that, least of not your employees and yourself.
If things have come to a stand-still, here are a few things to consider:
- Hiring a professional company to come in and write your marketing strategy
- Interview your customers, prospects and employees to get valuable feedback into your marketing strategy
- Do a marketing audit to make sure you have all your ducks in a row
- Review your product and service
- Do a competitor analysis
- Start from scratch and treat your business like its a startup. Re-engage all employees and redo your business plan, marketing and sales strategies.
For us, being a marketing company that is almost 15 years old, we are ready to take the next step. With technology we are able to do that, and our desire to on-board more licensees is part of our bigger, global strategy. Giving them tools that they would not have elsewhere is imperative to ensuring that they know they are part of brand to be immensely proud of.
Think about your company differently. Don't be afraid of change or getting it wrong the first time. From mistakes, comes great lessons that help us navigate the future with more confidence and greater success.
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comments ( 7 )
Maud
17 Jul 2018Very useful tips!
ReplyIt's very risky to take care of your own marketing. It takes a lot of time that you do not necessary have if you are managing your own business. Plus you need a lot of competences to create a proper strategy. It's wiser to leave it to an agency, and the ROI is worth it!
Megan
09 Jul 2018When it comes to strategy you just gotta keep rolling it out. Marketing seems like one of those industries similar to the Post Office, you can go insane because you think after a solid 10 hour day that you'd get a break, but come tomorrow you'll have to work just as hard all over again. Just like the mail, marketing never stops.
ReplyTom D
09 Jul 2018This blog is highly useful for businesses and marketers alike to the parallels of marketing strategies failure and the internal struggles of Marketing Eye in the current technological climate. The post itself is highly useful and raises important points for the reader to consider.
ReplyTom
06 Jul 2018I agree that professionals will produce the most effective marketing plan. It is also crucial that the business managers and marketing professional work closely together and can build rapport. This will ensure that the marketing professional can really understand the culture of the business and the brand that is trying to be created.
ReplyRachel
05 Jul 2018People change their taste very often, so marketing do. Kodak used to be the biggest camera manufacturer but when digital came out, it faded out from the market. If you ask kids in this generation, how many of them will still know what is Walkman? Technology changes very often, so marketing do. There are a number of reasons for marketing strategy is not working, try to figure out the main reasons and make changes when it is still not too late. Think different is always the tips for us to move on.
ReplyPhi Le
05 Jul 2018In my opinion, marketing strategy will have a higher chance of success if professionals do it. However, Most of the small businesses still believe still believe that they can do the marketing themselves to save and hope for success as they trust their fantastic products. It is helpful that Marketing Eye has made marketing service more affordable to those businesses.
ReplyCherry
05 Jul 2018I agree that change is not the worst, the worst is that people don't change. When we do something wrong, we shouldn't afraid of it and evade the problem. Instead we should think some solutions to solve it.
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