Not All Marketing Campaigns Are Successful. 5 Things To Do When Your Plans Fail
Yes, you read that right! Not all marketing strategies and campaigns work every time.
Why?
It is because over the course of time and through our deep thinking and strategy, we tend to miss out on some details which turn out to be huge mistakes later. Yeah! World domination begins with attention to detail and so does the success of your marketing plan.
So, what should we do next if our marketing plans fail? Let’s find out, shall we?
1. Don’t Wait Until the Executed Plan Has Failed Entirely
We live in a digital world where every minute metric is available to us. All the numbers are right out there on your dashboard and beware, numbers don't lie! Analyse every metric and divide the problem into tiny pieces to understand where you are going down. But don’t wait until the last minute.
For example, if you plan a marketing campaign for a month to generate 30 leads in 30 days, don't just look at the metric of 1 lead per day but break this down and see what is the CTR (Click through rate) and what is the conversion ratio on the landing page. If your CTR is low, it means you are not targeting the right audience or not communicating the right message to them.
On the other hand, if your CTR is good and the landing page conversion ratio is low, then your ad is communicating the right message but users are not finding any value on your landing page and hence, no form fills and no leads.
So, use CTAs that you can track and compare the number of clicks to the number of form fills and then make corrections to the tiny details on the campaign which will impact your overall campaign performance.
2. Be Patient
As marketers, we have the tendency to look at the numbers as soon as the campaign is live and make decisions based on what we see. And how's that working out for you? It is always recommended to wait for 3-4 days after you have kickstarted your campaign for the algorithms to learn and start optimising the campaign to improve the ROI.
For a visitor to convert into a lead, it is necessary to touch base with them at least 8 -12 times before they can convert. Even after a couple of weeks if you notice the results are not up to the mark, DO NOT STOP THE CAMPAIGN!
Make edits, try different methods or message of communication and creatives, change the landing page design and content, and test as many versions as possible. While you do that, ensure you are making a note of the data regularly and you will see the numbers talking to you about what’s working and what’s not!
Never judge a book by its cover and never judge a campaign without A/B testing every element of your campaign.
3. Don’t Lose Sight of the Customer
When we plan the campaign and create assets, it is human tendency to approve what we like or what we think is best. Sometimes down the line we always forget what the customer is looking for or how we are trying to solve his problem in our campaign communication. Creativity is a must but creativity alone doesn't make your campaigns work.
Always think of what your customer might look at against what value you are trying to offer him via your campaign. You might like brown shoes and think they are the best for your customer but what if your customer is looking for black shoes specifically?
4. Take an Integrated Approach. Think like a Full Stack Marketer
We always make the mistake of either going outbound or inbound. What if we could combine both?
For example, let’s say you are writing an article for your brand, adding all the relevant keywords, and publishing this on your website. Now an Inbound marketer would focus on generating results by organically promoting this. But, a full stack marketer would look at running a paid social media campaign, sending out an emailer to all his contacts (based on buyer persona segmentation) along with organic SEO promotion. This is how Full Stack Marketers should think on taking an integrated marketing approach.
Have you ever tried it yet? Maybe it’s time you give it a try!
A full stack marketer will always look at combining inbound and outbound marketing and take a holistic approach in generating output from the marketing efforts. Not all inbound marketing activities are completely inbound and not all outbound marketing efforts are completely outbound.
If you see that your campaign is not working as you expected, try out new channels of lead generation instead of sticking around with a few that you have always used.
5. Document the Failures
We write case studies and articles on how our marketing campaigns were a success but how many of us have really written down a case study of a failed campaign?
If you have, more power to you!
If you haven’t, it’s high time you start. Unless you have your mistakes and failures documented, you won’t know how to solve them and improvise in the future. Documentation also helps set the course for your next campaign where you will know exactly what you are NOT supposed to do. Win-win?
Quick Refresher
We all tend to get comfortable in doing the same thing that we have been doing, again and again, hoping it to work at some point in time. If you want to be a full stack marketer and learn what will work and what won't, then you need to experiment, risk trying something new, and talk to the numbers that your dashboard is throwing at you. That’s the only way you will learn what eventually works and what doesn’t.
Looking for a Full Stack Marketer who can get you the best of both, Inbound and Outbound Marketing? Look no more!
