What to Do When Your Marketing Campaign Fails?Unfortunately it happens. You plan, you research, you launch and the campaign fails. What could you have missed? What do you do now?
The first thing you want to do is step back. Breathe. Yes, breathe. The worst thing you could do at this point is think you are the only one this has happened to. You're not.
You are probably questioning whether you have the knowledge to work in marketing. You are overwhelmed with disappointment. This is why I want you to just take a step back and put yourself in the shoes of your target market.
Questions to ask yourself:
1. Did the marketing message reach your target?
2. Could they have perceived your marketing message wrong or misunderstood the message?
3. Did you miss the pain questions?
4. Did you do adequate research? Unfortunately lack of research is the reason most
campaigns fail.
5. Could your marketing copy or design be at fault for the lack of response? Did you follow the tried and true rules of marketing execution when it came to presentation?When you take a step back and detach yourself from the campaign to look at it as the audience rather than the developer it's a little easier to see the flaws.It's best to do this before the campaign launches, but let's face it we all make mistakes and it's better to look at it now and learn from it rather than not look at it at all. Evaluate and re-evaluate. When you feel confident that you've found the reason the campaign failed then you are ready to begin again carrying out the components that you possibly missed the first time. Test it before full execution; this is key.
From Laura LakeSigning Off -dinotino®©-
"All Marketers are Liars:
The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World"
by Seth Godin
Seth Godin is the author of six bestsellers, including Permission Marketing, an Amazon Top 100 bestseller for a year and a Fortune Best Business Book. His newest book, All Marketers are Liars, has already made the Amazon Top 100 and has inspired its own blog.
Seth is also a renowned speaker, and was recently chosen as one of "21 Speakers for the Next Century" by Successful Meetings Magazine and is consistently rated among the best speakers by the audiences he addresses.
Seth was founder and CEO of Yoyodyne, an interactive direct marketing company, which Yahoo! acquired in late 1998. He holds an MBA from Stanford, is a contributing editor to Fast Company magazine, and was called "the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age" by Business Week.
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Defination Of Business NetworkingBusiness networking is the process of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with other business people and potential clients and/or customers.
Notice that I don't say anything about meeting people in this definition; the ever-increasing slew of business networking meet-and-greet events have given business networking a bad name.
The key to true business networking is the establishment of a mutally beneficial relationship, and that's an incredibly rare event at the standard shake-hands-and-exchange-your-business-card events that are touted as business networking "opportunities".
The purpose of business networking is to increase business revenue - one way or another. The thickening of the bottom line can be immediately apparent, as in developing a relationship with a new client, or develop over time, as in learning a new business skill.
The best business networking groups operate as exchanges of business information, ideas, and support.
The most important skill for effective business networking is listening; focusing on how you can help the person you are listening to rather than on how he or she can help you is the first step to establishing a mutally beneficial relationship.
Also Known As:
Networking.
Common Misspellings:
Netwokring.
Examples: Jim learned a lot about how to improve his customer service through his business
networking group.
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Marketing to Single Women
Are you missing one of the largest markets out there? I'm consistently amazed how in marketing and advertising we have mistakenly overlooked the single adult women's market. At first I thought that I only noticed it because I am single, so I tend to tune into the marketing messages to see who they are geared for. However, after spending time researching I realized it wasn't only me they were missing. Just take a look at some of the statistics below. I'm sure by the time you've finished reading this article you'll wonder why you are not marketing to the single women market.
Over three years ago in 2001 the Census bureau alone reported that there were over 17million U.S. women living alone. This doubled from the year 1981. These women were never-married and childless and between the ages of 25 to 44, but let's not stop there. Consider the report done in 2000 that showed the percentage of single women in each of the following categories:
1. Women Never Married (25.1 Percent)
2. Separated (2.4 percent)
3. Divorced (10.2 percent)
4. Widowed (10 percent)
In a report by the Census Bureau release in July of 2004 it showed that there were over 95.7 million unmarried and single Americans. Over 53% of them were women. This nearly tripled the number reported in 2001. It's been reported that nearly half of women 45 or older are unmarried.
This market is continually growing at a rapid pace, yet how many commercials have you seen speak to these women? Perhaps this would change if more marketing companies realized that over 57% of single women currently own their own homes and live fully independent lives. Single women now equal one-fifth of the nation's population and 42 percent of all registered women voters.
Do you know that when it comes to politics our politicians are also missing the boat? Without a clear message to this market it is no wonder that statistics show that very few single women exercise their right to vote. In the 2000 presidential election 68 percent of married women voted, but only 52 percent of single women voted.
However don't think that just because you aren't running a political campaign that these numbers don't matter to you. If you are running a company, perhaps it's time to ask yourself how you are reaching this market.
If I were in charge of a political campaign my first order of business would be to spend time discovering what keeps these women from voting. If I were running a company and I knew I had been missing this demographic I'd be calling a meeting to make sure I don't continue to make such a costly mistake. How can you market to them? It can be done in three steps:
1. Learn what their concerns are?
2. Find out what is keeping them up at night?
3. Use the above answers to outline how to be more inclusive and explain policies
and goals that would improve the lives of these single women, not just "working
families."
This is not rocket science - this is Marketing 101 to an untapped market. Single women have the ability to alter the outcome of an election. They have the ability to grow your businesses and increase your sales. Perhaps it's time we all began to speak clearly to this market.
-Laura Lake-
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Happy New Year 2008 Happy New Year 2008. Its a whole new year out there.
Lets face all challenges in life with a positive attitude.
Once Again, Let the new year bring prosperity and new hope
to all of us :)
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