How to Stop Wasting Money on Marketing That Doesn't Work

Have you been investing money in a marketing strategy that does not seem to work? You are not alone. Many business owners express the same sentiments. You start a new campaign with high expectations, but your numbers remain the same or decline.

How to Stop Wasting Money on Marketing That Doesn't Work: eAskme
How to Stop Wasting Money on Marketing That Doesn't Work: eAskme

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Before you invest more money and time, you need to stop and ask some hard questions.

Understand what you could be doing wrong and then adjust your strategy systematically.

Here are the top things to check in your marketing strategy.

1. Determine its Current Level of Effectiveness

A marketing plan or campaign is only effective if it generates new leads for your business. You are spending money to generate new leads that you can convert into loyal customers.

The marketing messages should convince your target audience that they need your services or products.

You may not make a quick sale but if your target clients express interest, your marketing team can follow up and close the deal later.

Check the number of leads you have attained since you rolled out the campaign. If the number does not match your investment, it is time to move to the next step.

Some online tools are able to define new ways to convert abandoning visitors into leads and eventually repeat customers.

For example exit Intent technology, developed by OptinMonster, allows you to identify when a customer is about to leave, and send them targeted campaigns such as special offers or shopping support at this time.

2. Check Your Branding Strategies

How do you want your audience to perceive your business?

It could be that your marketing strategy is not working because you are sending the wrong message to your target audience through your branding.

Think of your business as a person and determine how your clients should describe that person.

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You want to create an impression that you are professional, trustworthy, reliable, fast, and committed.

Your marketing messages should be clear to your clients that they can rely on you for quality products or service.

Create the impression that you are in the business to add value to your clients for a long time.

3. Differentiate Your Business

You do not want to reinvent the wheel when developing your marketing strategies.

However, you will not achieve significant results if your strategies resemble your competitor’s strategies. Design new ways of sending the same message to your clients.

If not, your competitors will take the lead and build a stronger brand.

What differentiates your business in the market?

All business owners in your field could be using email marketing services, which have proven effective for years.

How are your emails to your clients different?

For instance, you can personalize the emails or include educational content instead of selling your products or services all the time.

4. Check Your Website

Here is another area that can frustrate your marketing strategies.

Your business website gives your clients the first impression of your business even before you advertise it.

You could be focusing too much on sending emails and designing banners that you ignore the website.

Visitors switch to another website quickly as soon as your website develops problems.

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Are all pages on your website responsive?

Can your visitors get all the information they need with a few clicks and in less than a minute?

Check all the pages on your site before you blame your staff or other things for a failed campaign.

5. Check Your Contact Details

If you are marketing your products aggressively and your phones are not ringing, something is wrong with the communication channels.

As you inspect your website, check if the contact details provided are correct.

The designer could have left out a digit or two when adding your contact information.

Try calling the numbers at different times of the day and from different networks.

Ensure that the chat button is working.

Teach your staff how to receive phone calls as well. Encourage your visitors to call your business by including a visible “call me” button on your website.

6. Segment Your Audience

It is cheaper and faster to send a generic message to all your recipients. However, your message could only be relevant to some people or to none.

Remember that your competitors are also sending similar messages to the same people you are trying to reach.

Segment your target audience based on their personality, age, preferences, and demographics among other aspects.

This means that you need to study your audience first before developing a marketing plan.

Send relevant messages to different segments and observe the results.

If you are unsure about your audience’s preferences, ask for feedback about your previous campaigns or products. Use the feedback to develop your products and adjust your marketing tactics.

7. Diversify

You may be complaining that your marketing is not working yet you are relying on a few tactics to generate leads.

Email marketing and building your online presence works but you need to add more tactics to reach a wider audience.

Have you ignored your social media strategies or given up on promotions?

You never know which tactic will yield the best results until you try it out. What works for another business may not work for your business.

Move from the traditional tactics like cold calling and invest in the current marketing tactics.

For instance, consider developing a mobile app that will help you connect with your clients fast.

8. Match Your Investment with Your Goals

Effective marketing starts with clearly defined goals.

Assuming that you have set such goals, does your investment match your goals?

In other words, can your marketing budget achieve the results you expect from your campaigns?

You must have realistic expectations when rolling out your marketing campaigns.

Investing more does not always lead to better results but you cannot invest a thousand and expect to earn a million.

Your investment shows your commitment to achieving your goals. Be willing to spend more if possible to achieve better results and this brings us to another important point.

9. Test and Scale

Are you holding back your resources waiting for a perfect time to scale your campaigns?

You could be achieving poor results because you are implementing your tactics on a small scale.

If marketing tactics have been tried and tested, scale your campaign where possible.

You will generate more leads from a larger audience than from a small audience.

Scaling does not always translate to a huge budget.

A little more could go a long way in reaching new clients.

Expand your campaign to new platforms and new markets while recording the results with each change. You can adjust your tactics based on the trend of lead generation.

10. Check Your Staff

Many business owners ignore this aspect when marketing their businesses.

You could be doing everything right but with the wrong people.

Your staff could frustrate your efforts if they are incompetent or indifferent about the growth of your business.

While you invest your time and resources in implementing the best marketing tactics, involve your staff. Ensure that your employees understand your goal and vision.

Reward them for their contribution towards the success of your business.

Maybe all you need is motivated staff that are willing to drive the marketing campaigns further and faster.

If your marketing is not working, the tips outlined above will help you fix it.

It is important to stop and evaluate your campaign at different phases to determine its effectiveness.

Otherwise, you will not get significant returns on your investments.

Communicate your vision and expectations clearly to your staff and match your investment with your goals. Remember that some tactics yield meaningful results in the long-term.

Are you still wasting money on marketing that dosen't work?

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