You may think you finally have all of your marketing ducks in a row, but lackluster results indicate otherwise! Devoting time and effort to marketing without seeing the return can leave you feeling discouraged. Let’s break down some reasons why your efforts may not be going to the distance.
Loosely Defined Goals
I may sound like a broken record but this first step is absolutely critical in paving your road to success. Are you interested in driving traffic to your website? Quantify the exact number of visitors that you would consider a success on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. Of those visitors, what portion (realistically) would you like to see become leads? These measurable figures will give you a basis from which to work from, allow you to plot your progress, and will keep you accountable.
You Aren’t Measuring Impact
What methods of data collection and analysis do you employ to measure whether or not you’re achieving results? If you aren’t do either, how can you be sure you’re not a marketing maven achieving record breaking results? The reality is this, that which is not measured in marketing may as well not have happened!
Assessing the impact of your efforts, and reporting on those findings, will give credibility to your work. It’s no secret that every marketer is asked to prove return on investment. Doing so requires tracking results. Check out our complimentary eBook to help you get started.
Old School Tactics
The effectiveness of traditional marketing efforts like magazine advertisements, radio spots, and direct mail is undoubtedly waning. Are you pouring money into paper-per click(PPC) advertising and wondering why you aren’t building a large body of engaged fans? While PPC can be an effective strategy to build traffic quickly, it generally doesn’t build long-term leads.
More and more marketers are using promoted social media posts, search engine optimization, and content creation to generate interest from potential leads. Take some time to assess the methods you’re employing, and what avenues you could be taking to produce qualified leads more effectively and efficiently.
Low Frequency
If marketing is an afterthought on your priority list, you likely aren’t devoting enough time to produce results. How much time should you be spending on marketing each week? Gah! This is an almost impossible question to answer as it is entirely dependent on your goals. The point is that your marketing efforts should be carefully considered, and consistent.
Dry Content
While you may be producing large volumes of content, it may not resonate with your followers. Does your content provide value by either being informative, educational, or entertaining? If not, this may be why you aren’t getting bites on all of those lines you’ve cast. You are competing for attention with a ton of content out there, how are you distinguishing yourself amongst your target audience?
A B2C content marketing report stated that 73% of content creators plan to prioritize creating more engaging content in 2016. If you’re in that majority, it shouldn’t be too hard to identify which type of content is engaging. Look to those social media and blog posts that generated the most activity to get an idea of which direction to head in.
Misaligned Strategy
Speaking of direction, where exactly are you headed? You can’t expect to slap some content on your business blog, send out a couple of tweets, and kick back while the leads pour in. Driving traffic and consumer engagement can be a time-consuming process that is supported by nurturing relationships. When asked what your marketing campaign consists of, your answer should not be, “Oh, you know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.”
Reach for Results
We’ve covered some possible reasons that you aren’t getting the results you’d like from your marketing strategy. Most importantly, don’t get discouraged, there is always something that can be done to achieve your inbound marketing goals!
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