Bad Marketing Habits to Break This Year
How can we categorize our new goals for 2018?
In general our goals fall under two main categories: accomplishment and habit. On the one hand we set specific measurable goals such as; increase sales by a certain percentage, grow our email list by a certain number or increase the number of followers to a desired amount. On the other hand, we have the habit goals that are meant to change our behavior for the better. These goals are no less important, but often harder to reach. Building a new habit or breaking an old habit requires discipline, dedication, time as well as a specific motivator.
The motivator needs to be defined and established in order for us to succeed in attaining our desired habit goal. I want to help you break a a bad marketing habit this year by offering a motivator. And your motivator is: saving time so you can focus on the essential marketing tasks that will help you reach the customers you want.
But first, let me tell you how your bad marketing habits can derail you from your goals. When our bad habit solidify themselves in our daily lives, we lose the valuable space in our routines to cultivate good habits that can actually help our thriving. The bad habits weigh us down instead of pushing us forward towards our goals. Habits are difficult to change. In fact, according to Science Daily it takes anywhere between 15 to 254 days to change one's habit. Luckily for us, we have a whole year ahead to get rid of ours.
So what are the main bad marketing habits I would like you to break? I have compiled a very short list of 4 that are general enough and can easily apply to your marketing strategy.
Not having a message. What I mean by that is just promoting your business as is, is not a message. A message can be a specific solution that you are providing, a limited promotion, a sale, a price point or a benefit. Advertising your business without a message is a waste of money. Chances of getting leads this way are very low. Creating a message for advertising your business will make your audience connect to your business. If they see how you can help them, they will have a reason to become your customers.
Marketing to everyone. Your amazing product or service might solve problems for a wide range of people. But for the purpose of marketing it, you need to segment your audience. You need to decide who you will be marketing to. It will be easier to craft your message and analyze the results of your marketing campaign. You will be able to see how a specific segment of your audience responds to what you are advertising. You will also be able to offer a more poignant solution for that specific group of people. A large part of marketing is testing. And the best way to test is with a narrow audience.
Not learning from your competition. Your competitors are having similar marketing questions when it comes to their businesses. Looking at what and how they are marketing can give you an insight to your differences and similarities. A thorough competitive analysis, can help you see your weak points and your strengths. All of this information can improve your strategy and give you an advantage within your market.
Diving into tactics before setting a strategy. When you start actively marketing before reflecting on what marketing tools actually make sense for your business, you run the risk of overspending and discouragement. You will invest all of your budget on the newest technology and won't get the result that you are expecting to get. You will get discouraged and become resentful about marketing at all. Setting a strategy, understanding which marketing tools will work best for your marketing goals, will help you focus and improve overtime. Tactics can be very exciting and seductive, but setting a strategy needs to be your first step.
I know that these are not easy habits to break. We need to recognize them in our daily routines and try changing our marketing behavior. But we have a whole year to do that!
