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.