5 Easy Mistakes Marketers are Making.
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Look, I am with you. Most of us have committed one of the cardinal sins listed below in our careers. But if you do find yourself feeling a bit sheepish, hopefully this guide will give you the drive to trail blaze new thinking.
Marketing isn’t rocket science, it’s a craft and only a few marketers are nailing it.
5 Easy Mistakes Marketers are Making:
1. Using Dirty Data
The impact of using dirty data is staggering. In an age where data is king, it’s scary how much investment is being wasted by making business decisions from data that is inaccurate, incomplete or inconsistent. Whenever you inherit data or if it has been whacked together by other departments, I would recommend:
A) Finding budget to have your data audited by a third party, this investment will pay for itself
B) No budget? Try checking your data against another source to benchmark
C) Try separating the data from your analysis, repeat the process and see if new information comes to light
D) Break down silos of data – databases should be designed to facilitate cross-organisation reusability of data in a way that reporting can be done at a holistic level
E) Make sure tools are in place to process large data sets
F) Encourage documentation throughout your organisation – this will help others understand the data architecture and the logic behind decisions
2. Reading the wrong god damn metrics.
What does success look like for you? I am sure for your boss it is increasing sales via online channels or by driving customers in store.
But whether we want to admit it or not, we’re all our own best PR managers. We choose the story we want to tell. And increasingly so, marketers are choosing the metrics they report on to quantify their results. These are called vanity metrics.
Eric Ries, summarised vanity metrics well with “Vanity Metrics make you feel good, but they don’t offer clear guidance for what to do”.
Engagement on a social media post does not equal sales.
A lower bounce rate does not equal sales.
Useful metrics equal actionable insights.
I would recommend looking at useful metrics that ladder up to your customers’ experience. Ensure the metrics you are reporting on are actionable, accessible and auditable.
3. Using Social Media as an Organic Platform
Way too many brands are still heavily investing in creating content for organic social. I wouldn’t go as far as some to say organic social has officially kicked the bucket. But investing heavily in creating multiple versions of creative, for a channel where organic reach has diminished, is just wasted budget. What’s the point of creating something if no one is going to see it?
Create less, boost more.
Pro tip: Keep an eye out for new releases or betas. Generally you will get a bit of extra reach/mileage as the platforms encourage new advertisers to take up the product.
4. Fighting for budget between Offline and Online teams.
I’ve heard it, you’ve heard it. TV is dead. Online needs a larger share of the budget.
Even the global giant, Adidas at one point claimed they were going 100% digital with their media spend. I believe one of the largest mistakes we’re making is seeing offline and digital as two channels that are at war with each other. The team at Analytic Partners have reported though that when TV can’t be run, OOH holds up some of the results, but without this, digital results drop significantly.
From an ad effectiveness level, we can’t ignore that offline and online support each other in drawing the customer further down the funnel. But why even see the two as separate entities? Why not reshape the way we review our strategy from traditional block plans to planning based on the customer? This goes beyond programmatic buying.
Traditional marketers need to up skill in digital marketing, it’s a fact. And Digital marketers need to understand the importance of brand and offline marketing.
My prediction is we won’t always have the separation between the two roles. Hopefully, we get to a point where we start labeling ourselves as Customer Experience Managers, who are more concerned about the touch points of our customers, rather than fighting for scraps of glory.
5. Not having a Customer Ratings and Review Strategy
A ratings and review strategy should ladder up to your business objective of having the customer at the heart of everything you do.
Customer trust in businesses is fading. A study by Edelman, completed in 2017, showed that “people in this country have had enough of experts.” And with this, our customers are turning to their peers as credible experts, and that includes reading online reviews. (Source: 2017 Edelman. Trust Barometer)
Hubspot Research completed a study that found “in the absence of trusted recommendations.. 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations”. With these types of consumer trends emerging, it seems crazy as brands that we are investing so much in media to do the job of convincing, yet we aren’t ensuring there is a customer ratings and review strategy in place.
The sheer volume of reviews can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there are tools in the market to help you monitor your reviews, and to leverage the positive ones as well. Bazaarvoice, although pricey, is an easy to use platform with plenty of resources to help you.
