Wrong audience, lack of strategy, training and support
Targeting the wrong audience 1#. Everything can be done right but will fail because the campaign was targeted towards the wrong audience.
- Solution: The marketer needs to do deep research on who their target audience is, what are their likes and dislikes, and how to best reach them (social media, tv, email, or snail mail. Go where your customers are.)
Lack of Strategy 2#: Even the best of plans will get nowhere without a strategy on how to implement it.
- Solution: Sit down with decision makers and hash out a structured campaign that would include deep research elements, what audience are you targeting, how to reach them, what are their likes and dislikes, what time of day are they most active, demographics (such as race, sex, finance, etc.), what questions are there that needs to be answered, but are presently unknown?, when will everything be ready for deployment? What date will the strategic campaign be implemented?
Insufficient training and support 3#: is just as bad if not worst than not having a plan and strategy for your business combined. Horrible training leads to horrible results.
- Solution: Take up reputable courses that will teach you the skills you need. Apply for an internship or get a job in this field so that you can get hands on experience and training. Read books that is for your field of study. New Rules of Marketing PR. 9th Edition; Business Analysis Techniques: 123 essential tools for success 3rd edition; Content Rules: how to create killer blogs, podcasts, videos, webinars (and more) that engage customers and ignite your business. These three books are a great read.
Resistance to Change 4#: Unfortunately, the field of marketing is a field that dies hard. One of the main reasons legacy media is still behind in the social media world was because of their hesitation and resistance to change to the new model. This left the doors wide open for independent media (and journalists with personal websites, blogs, YouTube channels, social media channels, etc) to compete head to head with legacy media for the same set of eyeballs 👀 and succeed.
- Solution: Get ahead of the curve. Become part of social groups that will be on the lookout for new trends in technology that will affect the digital world. Study the new tech and test out the tools if they prove themselves useful for your business add it to your arsenal.
Unrealistic Expectations 5#: We marketers are perfectionists, and are masters in the art of perfection in our respective fields. It comes with the territory, one I immediately notice upon attending college for this degree. It was/is due to the expectation to master the English written language. For me the English subject was a favorite of mines until I got to college than I hated it lol 😆. Would trade English class for Algebra in a heart beat. But the expectation that was placed on us in high school and now college followed us into the work field (I firmly believe a large number of current and former college students are suffering from PTSD from unrealistic expectations.). You had to be absolutely pristine for certain jobs. So, no grammar or quotation errors or kiss your resume goodbye to the corporate trash can. Setting unrealistic goals just because you achieved others by the skin of whatever little teeth you got left after chewing on that pencil ✏️ nervously will not land you that next success.
- Solution: set goals with realistic dates to achieve them and assignments with realistic means and ways to achieve them. This will save you time, gray hair and a trip to the dentist that many of us (including me) are long over due for.
Inability to build leads or support 6#: So, this issue comes by several factors, targeting the wrong audience, character (if you are boring no one will follow you or hear you out) pitch delivery (if it doesn’t make sense it won’t make cash), product misalignment (you pitching a product to an audience who is not interested), and missing key components in your campaign ( the roof has holes in it).
- Solution: Fix the roof with the holes I just named in it.
Value Alignment, Market Research, Customer Involvement and Legal Issues
Misalignment with brand values 7#: What is being created and presented to our customers does not register with what the company stands for or its values. This can cause alienation to our targeted audience.
- Solution: Create products and or post that presents what the brand of this company is about and be consistent with the brand message. No one wants pineapple on their pizza especially when originally there were none.
Poor market research 8#: The lack of research and finding out who your target audience is, has been the bane of many marketers as well as the companies they were hired to do the job for. This lack of research or lack of thorough research, causes brand misalignment, misaligned product targeting/advertising and ghost clientele.
- Solution: Create surveys and use data polls, social listening tools (such as Talkwalker) and other tools that will give you an idea of who your audience is and what their likes and dislikes are. After this research the responses to see if their is a prevailing issue among all responses that will help you get an idea of how to solve the problems your potential client has shared with you. Discover where most of your target audience live at such as what city, state, or country. If they are urban or suburban, or wealthy. Which gender would your product attribute and appeal more too. What social platforms do your audience frequent this will determine which social platform(s) to collect your data from. Who your audience are at home? Are they chill and laid back? A house wife? Parent? College student? get to know your audience. After you have collected all of the necessary data create an a/b campaign that will test out the data you collected and determine what appeals to your targeted audience more.
Legal Issues, none compliance with regulations 9#:This causes failures in all business practice no matter what industry you are in or what business you do. Lack of not being aware of the laws that governs your industry and you causes nothing but trouble, jail time, and a lot of money lost.
- Solution: Before you start promoting your business, find out what industry the business falls within, from there you will research what laws govern that industry and make sure you are in compliance with them. In short: GET A LAWYER!!!
Lack of customer involvement 10#: This comes from not engaging with your customers nor listening to their feed back with certain products or concerns. This causes break down in communication and trust with your audience.
- Solution: Listen to your audience feed back. If there are enough negative conversation research how you can better those customers experience or you will lose them and future guest to bad reviews and experience. This can be done through taking surveys on your customers views of your company and how your company is viewed favorably or negatively in their eyes. It is prudent to say you will not be able to please all customers as some cannot be please no matter what you do and you will still have some bad reviews, but what you do not want to do is ignore your entire support base.
Competitive prices from competition 11#: Let’s talk pricing. The price of your product is based off of its value and perceived value. If you are selling a luxury item you will price it fairly high and if you are selling an average item you would price it low and have one day mark down prices or sales. Now, when it comes to facing competition everything boils down to two things: “Quality and Quantity.” You can have a fairly price item but can be undercut competitors if you do not have enough in inventory. A competitor can be selling the same or similar thing for a cheaper price because they have enough in storage to compete with your business and can out fox a new marketer on volume and low price alone. Marketers who has never studied or experience this kind of competition will not be able to compete with a more experience competitor and this works against high ticket items as well average to low ticket items.
- Solution: Build brand value and customer loyalty. Quality over quantity. In order to build brand value and customer loyalty you have to be engage with the community that supports the company the product is sold by. Doing things that acknowledge them and makes them feel special and a part of the community like gift give aways, gift cards, or birthday recognition. Be quick to point out the flaws in your competitors quality of service such as their customer service and its short comings vs the other company. This falls back to studying your competitor.
Quality and reliability, Speak your Customers language, Weak Value Propositions
Quality and reliability 12#: Quality and reliability of the product or service being sold to a potential client can make or break sale. Marketers fall where the features and endurance of said product or service are not tested or vetted. When a consumer makes a purchase and the product or service does not deliver as promise, this can lead to bad reviews, request of money returned or worst a lawsuit! It is imperative that the marketer ensures the quality and reliability of the product or service.
- Solution: This can be done by asking questions of the owners and testing the service or product out. If it breaks or not deliver on the promise made then it is a bad product and or service and is worth no more of your time. You can also check the reviews of the product on Google my business or yelp.
Timing issues 13#: time is key, you need to know when your customer is up and about and checking their socials or would be up watching their local news. This varies by day and job affiliation.
- Solution: Check the Nielsen for times people are most active watching tv or their socials.
Weak value proposition 14#: like time your value proposition is key to getting you that sale or job. If you do not know what you are talking about or what you have to offer, how will your target audience know? This lack of knowledge will turn them off quicker then a New York minute. Your pitch to whoever your audience will make you or break you. You need to be able to convey the “value” of your product or service.
- Solution: Research and study your industry. Get a full understanding of it and get some kind of experience in it to better help you convey the information smoother. 2# get to know your audience who will be in the receiving end of this unique value proposition. You cannot pitch a sale to someone you are not 100% sure that they will be interested in.
Speak the Language of Your customers 15#: And this problem is a personal pet peeve of mine. Not being able to understand your customer. If you speak in a language where your customers cannot understand you, mark my words you will not get any sales. What I mean by speaking their language is understanding them at their educational level. You have to get into the minds of your customer. Speak plainly and not legalese, corporate talk, or college lingo. Yes, I know you are college educated and got your doctorate, PhD’s and 123s. However, your customers are not “YOU.” This will benefit you and your business in the long run
SOLUTION: “SPEAK PLAINLY.”
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