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The invisible marketing wall
11/16/2017 5:35:55 AM


I met with a very frustrated business owner recently. He was frustrated because the marketing method he had always depended upon was not producing the leads he once saw. "It’s like we hit some invisible wall,” he said. His target market just isn’t responding to his marketing efforts any longer. "What happened?” he asked me.

There are a myriad of things that could have happened. Here are some common occurrences that could make your marketing ineffective:

  • Your target market shifted their attitudes and your brand is in the crosshairs. A recent example of this is the NFL and the backlash over player protests during the playing of the National Anthem. The last thing an entertainment venue like the NFL needs is a political issue that divides their customers into two camps. Despite which side of the political equation you draw your loyalties, the uproar over a divisive gesture has hurt the NFL brand, with major advertisers threatening to pull their support of the NFL and fans boycotting games.
  • There are other reasons your target market has changed their attitude of you. It could be you are facing more competition than you once had. Competition is all about customer choices. Choice is a huge driver in customer expectations. If you are not meeting customer expectations, you will lose market share quickly.
  • Your ineffectiveness at marketing might also be the medium you are using. There is a shift away from traditional marketing (print ads, direct mail, multi-media) towards electronic versions of the same thing (e-mail marketing, texted coupons, social media advertising, etc.) Has your medium of choice begun to dry up?

These are reasons your target market may not be responding to you. However, more often than not, I find that the reason marketing is ineffective has to do with misplacing marketing functions. This happens on two levels. First, there is often an expectation that the new marketing – especially that which we have labeled "Content Marketing” – will get the same action from a customer that advertising does. It will not, at least not right away. Content marketing, such as blogs, social media posts, case studies, etc. are designed to show what you can do without the hard sell of advertising. In the new world of marketing, everyone is looking at your web content before they contact you. Content marketing allows them to see how your products and services work to solve problems, what kind of company you are running, if you value your employees and give back to the community, etc. It helps them answer a moral question: Do I want to spend my money with this type of company or not?

The second level is a byproduct of the first. Since there is so much emphasis on good content marketing, many marketers have forgotten how to get someone beyond a passing glance to being interested in buying whatever you are selling. It’s great that someone is reading your blog, but you have to get them past your content to making a decision to make a purchase or not. There is a tried and true method known as a call to action. It is the next step in the process of marketing towards a sale. If you don’t transition the prospect with a call to action, you will never earn their business.

So if you are facing the invisible marketing wall, you might step back and examine your marketing methods. Especially note at what point you are asking for a sale. If you are not doing this within your marketing strategy, you have found your barrier. Fix it and you will scale the wall.

 

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