If your business isn’t seeing cumulative results from your marketing efforts, it’s time to self-examine, re-strategize and change gears.
If you are actively promoting your products and services but not gaining in rankings, visibility or sales, you may have “bad” or ineffective marketing. Having said that, even a well thought-out campaign can fall flat if launched at the wrong time, as a few corporate examples below illustrate.
Allow some time for new strategies to take hold – SEO and marketing results don’t happen overnight. Examine the results. If results continue to fall short, or are non-existent, examine your message, strategy, and audience response. Google Analytics and other technology can provide data on traffic to your website or social accounts.
So what exactly is marketing? It is the process of informing your consumers why they should buy your products and services over those of the competition. It involves convincing your customers to interact and engage with your products. This is done by delivering effective messaging through various avenues such social media, digital, print, direct mail and newsletters.
Typically, there are several processes that move your product or service from your business to your customer. In planning, things for you to initially consider are:
• your basic message
• your target audience
• your call to action
The marketer you hire will refine and/or suggest changes. Their goals are to:
• capture your target market’s attention
• provide easy, low-risk actions to take
• persuade to purchase your product/service
• and ultimately, sell more products!
The warning signs of ineffective marketing are:
1. losing customers to competitors
2. poor traffic
3. getting low-quality leads
4. unsure of target customers
5. bad reviews
6. low conversion rate
The following are a few examples of failed campaigns, sourced from taktical.co. These are highly visible corporate backfires, in this summary, made in the early days of the pandemic.
1 – McDonald’s “distancing” the golden arches
In 2020 early in the pandemic, MacDonald’s decided to shed light on social distancing by separating the famous golden arches in their logo. Social media response was negative to this strategy on a number of levels, as the perception was that the company wasn’t supporting its team members or emphasizing the practice of safe sanitation for its customers.
2 – Corona Seltzer – a poorly-timed launch
Hard seltzers are everywhere these days. Many beer companies like Corona decided to get in the game in 2020 with the tagline “Corona Seltzer, Coming Ashore Soon.” The brand name and its association with COVID-19’s arrival to North America, the limitations to spring break and overseas travel was detrimental to stock prices and product sales.
3 – Burger King ruins our appetite
In 2020, many felt safer eating at home when they decided to let someone else do the cooking. The takeout movement of 2020 led to many relying on delivery and drive-thrus in a big way. As fast food companies jockeyed their way into a stronger position, Burger King decided to focus on their natural ingredients.
The concept of a burger with no artificial preservatives is definitely worth highlighting. The only problem is that they showed their food moldy. (Refer to the photo.) Are you still hungry for a burger?
Ensure you’ve considered how consumers will react.
These campaigns seem like no-brainers in hindsight, but mistakes happen under normal circumstances as well. Protect your brand’s integrity by working with a reputable and experienced firm who understands your brand, customers and goals. Call All Media Marketing at 321-698-1550.