Drinking too much coffee, staying up late, endless scrolling on social media, or overindulging on chocolate – we all have a few bad habits that we’d like to break. We are human, after all. So business marketing gets affected as well.
And just like how quickly we ended up overeating take-out during the endless months of lockdown, it’s just as simple to slip into bad habits when it comes to marketing. When there’s so much happening in the marketing world, it’s understandable to look for the quick way out.
It’s easy to jump on the latest trends, push out campaigns in record time (with little thought), and schedule a bunch of memes on your social media accounts. But, we’re sorry to break it to you; good marketing isn’t easy (and if it is, then you’re likely missing out on something).
The success of your business depends on a good marketing strategy, but what makes a good marketing strategy? Well, it starts with building strong marketing foundations.
But let’s start with the lousy marketing habits that are holding you back.
Here are ten lousy marketing habits to avoid in your marketing strategy
These ten bad marketing habits have no place in your growth marketing strategy. Ditch them, and you’re on your way to more growth.
Grasping at every new shiny tool & tactic
“Ooh, look at this new marketing tactic!”
“Oh wait, this looks better….”
“No, no. This new tool is the one to level up our marketing.”
Shiny Object Syndrome in marketing is a thing. And it’s no surprise when there’s seemingly a new marketing tool or tactic popping up every week.
There’s nothing wrong with keeping an open mind and experimenting with your marketing, but continuing to move on to new tools and tactics at the expense of ones that work isn’t a great idea.
Targeting “EVERYONE” as your audience
Talking to more people won’t lead to more sales. It just leads to wasted budgets. Because, no matter how much you think everyone could use your product or service, it’s simply not the case (unless you’re selling toilet paper).
You’ll get far better results if you target a specific audience. Use data analysis to identify your best prospects and employ tactics you can measure, such as direct marketing.
Not doing research
You’re not going to buy a house without first researching the neighborhood, checking out the house’s condition, and analyzing whether the price fits in with your budget. So, why would you put together a marketing campaign without first researching your competition, customers, and marketing landscape?
Market research provides critical information about your market and your business landscape. Without it, you have no idea who you’re marketing to, let alone how to talk to them.
Wanting to be on EVERY social media platform
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Tumblr, Pinterest, Snapchat, Clubhouse…these are just the more mainstream ones. The list of available social media platforms is getting longer by the day.
But that doesn’t mean that you have to be on ALL of them. You really shouldn’t. Only stick to the social platforms that your audience is using.
Not knowing how to translate marketing into business impact
Have you heard of ROI? It’s your return on investment on the marketing that you’re doing. If you do not measure your ROI, you have no idea what impact (if any) your marketing is having on your business.
Growth marketing is all about translating your marketing into business growth.
You are not listening to your audience
You are guessing what your audience wants to see leads to an uninformed, ineffective marketing strategy that loses valuable time, money, and, eventually, customers.
Listen to your audience via surveys, analytics, and social listening.
Jumping in with no marketing strategy
Baking a cake, taking a road trip, and throwing a surprise birthday party are all things that you could probably get away with ‘winging.’ But they’d all work out far better if you had a clear, well-thought-out plan in place.
The same applies to your marketing. Jumping in with no strategy can result in confusing, mismatched, and sometimes harmful messaging for your brand.
Buzzwords & marketing cliches
Us marketers LOVE a few buzzwords and cliches, hey? We’re all guilty of it. Why? Because they’re easy. They’re the first phrases that pop into our head – but only because we’ve heard them so many times!
It’s okay to throw in a few buzzwords and cliches now and then (sometimes, there isn’t any other way to say something). But try not to overdo it – we know you’re better than that!
Not enough analytics
We’re living in a data-driven world (there we go with a buzzword), so not using your data and analytics is the most significant marketing offense you could do. It’s all right in front of you – all you have to do is analyze it and use it to inform your future marketing decisions.
You miss out on many valuable insights when you’re not using enough analytics in your marketing strategies.
Too many analytics
No, we’re not trying to confuse you. We did say that it’s a bad habit not to use enough analytics, but it’s also not great to rely only on analytics.
Focusing too much on your analytics can result in robotic, non-creative marketing. Also, having too much data can get overwhelming and confusing, which isn’t helpful either. Aim for a healthy mix of analytical and creative thinking.
Play a game of Bad Marketing Bingo with your team
We all like to think that we have the most original, creative, and innovative marketing ideas. But, we tend to all do a lot of the same thing. It’s not a bad thing; it’s pretty funny.
Many of us have built our businesses ‘from the ground up, helping our customers ‘do more with less with our ‘world-class,’ ‘one-stop shop’ products and services. And, of course, we’ll all ‘go the extra mile. So, what’s wrong with saying it?
Have some fun with your marketing team and download our ‘Bad Marketing Bingo’ game to see how many bad marketing habits, buzzwords, and letting your brand has fallen victim to cliches.
And once you’ve had a good laugh, get in touch with our team to help take your business to the next level with our in-depth marketing insights. We’ll help you build a solid marketing foundation that avoids the above-mentioned lousy marketing habits.