The anatomy of failure: Four questions to ask when your marketing isn’t working
The anatomy of failure: Four questions to ask when your marketing isn’t working
All too often, if you’re like a lot of entrepreneurs, you start pointing fingers. You blame other people, including the very clients and customers you seek to attract. You blame circumstances that are beyond your control, like the weather or the season of the year.
And, inevitably, you end up pointing more than one finger back at yourself. In addition to this self-flagellation, self-doubt creeps in. You start to wonder if you’re ever going to do the “right” thing, if you’re good enough, if you’re [fill in the blank] enough.
The truth is, no amount of blaming others or beating yourself up has ever made a significance difference in the world. It is tempting, however!
Four questions that work
What does work is to re-frame your marketing strategies and outcomes. Look at whatever has happened as a learning experience. After all, whether something worked or (especially) if it didn’t work, you might as well learn something valuable from it.
Right now, recall a specific marketing effort that didn’t work out as well as expected. It might be something from the recent past or something you’re going through right now.
Now ask the following questions:
1. What worked?
2. What didn’t work?
3. What did you learn?
4. What will you change about your strategy, moving forward?
That’s all there is to it; four simple questions. Your biggest challenge will be to get into the habit of asking these questions before you start blaming others, yourself, or circumstances.
Let’s take a look at an example
Say you are working on lead generation for, say, your gourmet chocolate company and you run a marketing campaign that’s designed to appeal to chocolate lovers through the internet.
You run a Google Ad Words pay-per-click campaign. You spend thousands of dollars for all the people who “clicked through” your online ad. Your web traffic analysis tells you that thousands of visitors came to your site, but only a handful stayed for more than a minute or bought anything. So, you only have several hundred dollars in revenue from it. Obviously not an ROI that’ll keep you in business.
Let’s look at the four questions:
1. What worked?
Well, at least some people clicked through, so that tells you that some people are indeed interested in purchasing chocolate through the internet.
2. What didn’t work?
Of course, spending thousands of dollars to make several hundred didn’t work. But it also didn’t work that you initially attracted visitors to your site but that most didn’t stay for very long. And of the potential customers who went further into your site, only a fraction were inclined to buy anything.
3. What did I learn?
It would be easy to say to yourself, “Internet marketing doesn’t work. People don’t by chocolate online; they need to see it and smell it.”
But what if you said, “What I learned is … Some people do buy chocolate from the internet. I wonder why so many people came to the site, but so few bought anything. What if my marketing message on my website is confusing or turning people off?”
4. What will I change about your strategy, moving forward?
Maybe you’ll give this strategy another trial. But this time, you’ll refine your website’s marketing message. Maybe make the site more attractive, both in appearance and in the words you use to describe your products. Words that sell are words that evoke powerful emotions—could you do a better job of filling the room with the alluring aroma of sweet, irresistible delectables with your words?
Four simple questions
Now, isn’t that better than the alternative of finger-pointing and other non-productive forms of getting the results you want from your business? By the way, these questions apply to just about any business situation, not just marketing. Heck, they apply to just about any life situation!
Asking (and answering) these four questions can completely change your world. Get into the habit of exploring them, before going down the “blame, shame road,” and you’ll prosper mightily. This, clearly and simply defined, is the road to “more profit, greater freedom, and lasting contribution.”
To your prosperity!
The anatomy of failure Four questions to ask when your marketing isnt working - To learn more about this author, visit George C. Huang's Website.
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Does this sound familiar? You run a marketing strategy and it flops miserably. What’s the first thing you do?
All too often, if you’re like a lot of entrepreneurs, you start pointing fingers. You blame other people, including the very clients and customers you seek to attract. You blame circumstances that are beyond your control, like the weather or the season of the year.
And, inevitably, you end up pointing more than one finger back at yourself. In addition to this self-flagellation, self-doubt creeps in. You start to wonder if you’re ever going to do the “right” thing, if you’re good enough, if you’re [fill in the blank] enough.
The truth is, no amount of blaming others or beating yourself up has ever made a significance difference in the world. It is tempting, however!
Four questions that work
What does work is to re-frame your marketing strategies and outcomes. Look at whatever has happened as a learning experience. After all, whether something worked or (especially) if it didn’t work, you might as well learn something valuable from it.
Right now, recall a specific marketing effort that didn’t work out as well as expected. It might be something from the recent past or something you’re going through right now.
Now ask the following questions:
1. What worked?
2. What didn’t work?
3. What did you learn?
4. What will you change about your strategy, moving forward?
That’s all there is to it; four simple questions. Your biggest challenge will be to get into the habit of asking these questions before you start blaming others, yourself, or circumstances.
Let’s take a look at an example
Say you are working on lead generation for, say, your gourmet chocolate company and you run a marketing campaign that’s designed to appeal to chocolate lovers through the internet.
You run a Google Ad Words pay-per-click campaign. You spend thousands of dollars for all the people who “clicked through” your online ad. Your web traffic analysis tells you that thousands of visitors came to your site, but only a handful stayed for more than a minute or bought anything. So, you only have several hundred dollars in revenue from it. Obviously not an ROI that’ll keep you in business.
Let’s look at the four questions:
1. What worked?
Well, at least some people clicked through, so that tells you that some people are indeed interested in purchasing chocolate through the internet.
2. What didn’t work?
Of course, spending thousands of dollars to make several hundred didn’t work. But it also didn’t work that you initially attracted visitors to your site but that most didn’t stay for very long. And of the potential customers who went further into your site, only a fraction were inclined to buy anything.
3. What did I learn?
It would be easy to say to yourself, “Internet marketing doesn’t work. People don’t by chocolate online; they need to see it and smell it.”
But what if you said, “What I learned is … Some people do buy chocolate from the internet. I wonder why so many people came to the site, but so few bought anything. What if my marketing message on my website is confusing or turning people off?”
4. What will I change about your strategy, moving forward?
Maybe you’ll give this strategy another trial. But this time, you’ll refine your website’s marketing message. Maybe make the site more attractive, both in appearance and in the words you use to describe your products. Words that sell are words that evoke powerful emotions—could you do a better job of filling the room with the alluring aroma of sweet, irresistible delectables with your words?
Four simple questions
Now, isn’t that better than the alternative of finger-pointing and other non-productive forms of getting the results you want from your business? By the way, these questions apply to just about any business situation, not just marketing. Heck, they apply to just about any life situation!
Asking (and answering) these four questions can completely change your world. Get into the habit of exploring them, before going down the “blame, shame road,” and you’ll prosper mightily. This, clearly and simply defined, is the road to “more profit, greater freedom, and lasting contribution.”
To your prosperity!
The anatomy of failure Four questions to ask when your marketing isnt working - To learn more about this author, visit George C. Huang's Website.
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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