Every client I work with wants to know that marketing will work. The most realistic way to think about marketing is that it has to have synergy and compliment everything else you do. Typically, when marketing doesn’t work, it’s not “marketing’s” fault.
Here’s an example. Remember when Groupon first came out? Many businesses jumped on board and sold hundreds. In other words the marketing tactic worked. What happened next however, didn’t work.
Many businesses didn’t have the internal communications or structure to accommodate the mass influx of customers. They may have ran out of product, didn’t have the physical space or didn’t have enough staff to make the “Grouponers” experience unique and memorable and in many cases the customers left frustrated, wrote negative reviews and/or never returned.
Here are other scenarios when external marketing fails to meet your expectations as a result of your internal structure.
When you’re unorganized – You won’t see the results your looking for if you scramble to get the word out last minute or have unrealistic expectations as far as deadlines. A typical marketing timeline is a yearlong. Plan ahead and measure your success after you’ve given ample time for your marketing to have an effect.
Speaking of being unrealistic – You’re posting to social media like a good little social media guru but people still aren’t beating down your door. That’s because you have unrealistic expectations as to the purpose of that particular marketing tactic. Different tactics match up with different strategies. You must select the marketing tactic that can realistically accomplish your objective. (See the difference between objective, strategy and tactic here.)
When you’re inconsistent – It could be something as simple as skipping a few days of social media posts or missing a monthly e-newsletter. Without fail, every time a client fails to be consistent I see it have a negative effect. In addition, if your marketing tells people that you’re “special” or “one-of-a-kind” or can provide an experience your customer can’t get anywhere else, you best live up to it. Saying one thing externally and giving the customer a completely different experience internally is inconsistent.
Inconsistency leads to creating a disconnect. If your name, logo, tag line, mission statement, location, look and feel of your location and so on, doesn’t make sense to the target market, you’ve created a disconnect. When consumers are not connected to or are confused about who you are, or what you are, (is this place supposed to be resturant or a night club?) they will move on to find a business they can relate to.
When everyone’s not on board –Marketing seeps into every level and aspect of your business. If your employees can’t answer the same questions you can or your marketing department can, about the products and services you offer, you could be headed for trouble. Everyone has to be informed of what’s going on and aware of the long-term goals in order to be effective.
Be sure you smooth out your internal communications and operations before you spend money or time, or before you move forward thinking what you’re doing externally is a sure thing. For help with internal and/or external marketing contact Vira Creative. Don’t wait, we are only taking on three additional monthly clients in 2015!