Conversion rates low? Generating the wrong leads? Campaigns not bearing fruit? You could be a victim of sucky marketing. The good news is, there’s a cure for this ailment, and that is reading this article. 

Well, provided you actually do a full analysis of your marketing plans after reading this, as well as doing your own research too. 

Today, we’re going to discuss some reasons why your marketing campaigns aren’t taking off, so that you can properly diagnose where your weaknesses lie. 

You haven’t done enough research.

Any decent marketing campaign starts with a LOT of research. There’s not a person alive out there who knows exactly what their customers/audience wants, why they want it, how they want to get it, etc without putting in the work to find out. And if you’ve met that person, send them our way because we’d love to know their secrets. 

There are two main areas of research that are absolutely crucial for your success. 

Audience. The entire purpose of marketing and the cornerstone of a business is selling yourself to your audience/customers. If you’re not tuned in to who your audience is and what they want, your marketing endeavors are going to flop miserably. Narrowing down who your audience is involves some sleuthing, and it will help if you have an Audience Segmentation tool. If you do not however, a simple Excel sheet will do. Consider things like: Age, gender, geographical location, socioeconomic background, marital/family status, occupation, etc. Put all of this information (or a random sample, depending on how large your current customer base is) into an Excel spreadsheet and try to see if you can narrow down any patterns or commonalities among individuals.

It’s also beneficial to note not only their demographic characteristics, but also their psychographics, such as: personality, patterns of behavior, attitudes, beliefs, interests/hobbies, lifestyle, etc.

Competitors. To do an analysis of your competitors, all you have to do is utilize pretty much the same method as we discussed above, but using your competition. You probably won’t find the same kind of in-depth information that you will get from your own customer base, but you’d be surprised what you can learn simply by doing a little social media stalking. 

You don’t have a solid plan to carry out objectives. 

A goal without a plan is just a wish, as they say. You may have set objectives, but are those objectives informed? Have you really taken the time to think about why you’ve set these goals and why it is in your best interest to funnel time, money, and energy into attaining these specific objectives? First make sure you nail down the answers to those questions. Once you have clear objectives, you must also have a concrete plan for how you are going to achieve your goals. 

Use the SMART goals principle, which says that you should make sure your goals are clear and reachable. each one should be:

Specific (simple, sensible, significant).

Measurable (meaningful, motivating).

Achievable (agreed, attainable).

Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).

Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

You’re not tracking performance.

If you’re not tracking how your campaigns are performing, how are you supposed to measure whether or not they are successful? Tracking results is important for performing A/B testing in the future. If you track the results of early campaigns, you can compare the successes and failures and adapt future endeavors to attempt to capture the successes. However, if you never actually record these successes and failures, it’s impossible to learn from them going forward.

You don’t have a website.

According to Forbes, 97% of consumers search for products & services online. If you don’t have a presence on the web, they’re going to find your competitors first, and you won’t even have the chance to prove yourself. Having a clean, professional-looking website will also help to establish your credibility as a business. On the opposite hand, if you don’t have a website, people will wonder whether or not you’re running a legit operation, and may feel inclined to buy from your competitor who actually has a site. 

You’re not investing enough into your marketing. 

You have to spend money to make money. It may seem daunting at first, throwing tons of money into something that hasn’t yet generated results. But you made an initial investment into your business, why be afraid now? Trust us, if you’ve got all of the aforementioned issues resolved and you’ve done your research to develop a solid, research-driven marketing plan, you’re sure to see results.