Great advertising can be phenomenal for a business’s success. Companies can crank out excellent ads with excellent results, but they can just as likely create some not-so-awesome ones due to unlikely advertising blunders. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while, but wasted money on failed advertising executions is a mistake nobody wants to make.
Double check that you aren’t committing any of these advertising mistakes!
You’re not measuring your results.
In most cases, you’ll do your research before advertising executions are made, but don’t forget to do the research once the executions have been played out. Measuring the results of your marketing ensures that what you’re doing is achieving your marketing goals. Administer surveys to gather information about the consumer or talk to customers directly. Analyze brand awareness by surveying the target market. Compare sales before and after advertising and marketing efforts. Has there been an increase in customer buys? Store visits?
Additionally, check analytics for social media and see how the activity compares to the stats of previous activity. Keep track of your progress and failures so that you can grow from them, your results will prevent you from continuing any advertising mistakes.
You’re not being patient.
Advertising shouldn’t be about instant gratification, because it likely won’t satisfy your marketing goals right away. Great advertising takes a bit of time to build up to become the most effective. Not every person who sees your ad is going to drop everything and rush to buy the advertised product, but exposing the ad to the consumer often enough can help them remember to do so in the future. Allow some time for the ad to resonate before you become discouraged. Once you feel that the time is right, measure the ad’s effectiveness.
You’re targeting too many consumers.
You may feel like you’re better off marketing to more than one market. Or, you may want to target everyone. However, failing to establish a target audience can misdirect your marketing executions and lead to little or no results simply because the message doesn’t apply to everyone.
Your marketing actions should be done with the target in mind, even something as simple as a Tweet or a Facebook post can make marketing more efficient. An established target audience helps give your advertising more structure and makes executions consistent because they’re reaching the same market, not all markets. Look at current consumers and company products/services when trying to find a target. There are likely similar markets that can benefit from what the business has to offer. Find them so you can hit a bullseye with advertising.
You’re all business…all the time.
Business updates, new products and sales are a few great things that businesses can talk about on social media. However, sometimes you need to remind customers that it’s a business run by people. Celebrate the accomplishments of employees, share fun stories that have happened during the day, be personal. This helps establish brand loyalty and trust between the customer and the business. However, be sure not to go too far in the other direction. While it’s fun to do something silly or personal to show the company’s sense of humor once in a while, don’t lose sight of your marketing objectives. Make sure that you maintain a balance between business and fun.
You’re creating too many individual ads.
While individual advertisements can be effective, you are more likely to see more results when campaigning. Chances are, you have more to say than can be accomplished in a single advertisement. Advertising campaigns work from one big idea, and they allow you to say more, reach more and target through different advertising platforms. Build upon each advertisement as you go, and be sure that they’re consistent with your message.
Keep these ideas in mind if you feel like your advertising is falling short of your goals. Be consistent by campaigning, don’t be afraid to be personal and be patient. Don’t be discouraged by mistakes or shortcomings, learning from mistakes is one of the best ways that advertising strategies can grow and become something more outstanding.
