It’s no secret that big marketing expenditure is now a business priority, with many companies spending as much as 10-12% of their overall budget here. That makes marketing one of the most expensive subsects for any company, and with good reason.
Still, as many startups are seeing, even big-budget marketing pushes are at risk of failure. That’s a problem and, if it’s something you’re facing at the moment, it’s an issue you need to tackle. Otherwise, you could find yourself among the countless startups who don’t survive their first year. But you’re doing things right, aren’t you? You’re spending substantial amounts of money on marketing, so how can things be going so wrong? Keep reading, and you might just find out.
# 1 – You don’t understand your audience
Understanding your audience is a business 101, and yet it remains an area that countless companies still fail to grasp, even now. After all, you have your ‘ideal image’ of a consumer, and you might well default to targeting marketing efforts towards them, all without noting who’s really paying attention. This is a problem, especially given the increasingly tailored focus of digital marketing efforts. It’s simple; until you know the best people to aim your ads towards, you’re never going to achieve the conversion rates you want to make those marketing expenses worth your while. So, step back and do your research before you spend a cent here!
# 2 – You’re overspending on ineffective methods
Too often, we also make the mistake of assuming that an expensive marketing method must be a good one. We pay through the teeth for ads in executive magazines, or appearances on specialist websites. Here as in life, though, expense very rarely equates to value. This is a fact countless companies are realizing as entirely free social media marketing methods come to the fore. Equally, affordable alternatives like the SiriusXM advertising you can find out more about here could see you reaching far more people than some specialist c-suite physical ad. In short, you need to look for marketing methods with the best ROI, not the highest price points. Think value for money, rather than splashing unnecessary, and much-needed, cash.
# 3 – You aren’t tracking results
When push comes to shove, modern marketing is only ever as valuable as the results it provides. Admittedly, reliable tracking isn’t always possible with offline marketing tactics, but it is easier than ever for your online efforts. Checking everything from your analytics to conversion rates and beyond can show you both what works and what doesn’t. Even if a marketing push fails, it therefore provides value.
Do you need to spend big on marketing to make a success of things? Maybe, but that’s certainly not to say that chucking money at this problem is a quick fix. Instead, you need to sit back, consider the returns you’re seeing right now, and think about why they might not quite match the amount you’re spending on marketing at the moment.