Competition
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Marketing is a much needed part of every business and should not be looked at as an expense to stay away from or incur as little as possible. So with this article, we will discuss the top 7 reasons marketing fails.

1. The number 1 reason marketing fails is lack of understanding of the audience or not having a target audience defined in the first place. This is the shotgun approach. We will shoot our message out to everyone and hopefully someone will be interested.
   
   
2. The number 2 reason marketing fails is lack of clearly defined goals and objectives of what the marketing is supposed to accomplish. More business or business growth is too broad. You really must have an idea of how this is going to happen x# of calls via our ad, x% conversion rate from our sales team on these calls, x# of new visitors to our web site, x% conversion rate of new visitors filling out a form from one of our landing pages, etc. etc.
   
   
3. Marketing fails when you do not choose your medium wisely. If you choose your marketing medium based on what everyone else is doing or a great offer a phone salesperson makes on a cold call then you may miss your mark. Marketing needs to reach the target audience - podcasts may not reach a landscaping company or email or web based marketing may not reach a low income community that does not have internet access.
   
   
4. Marketing fails when it fails to meet the audience needs. When you put out marketing that is all about you, you, you and not at all about your audience it will fail. Quit talking about how great you are and start talking about how you solve problems the prospect is dealing with. Answer, "What's in it for them?".
   
   
5. Another reason that causes marketing to fail is being reactive instead of being proactive. So many companies rush a marketing program like a trade show because they got a last minute notice that the show is two weeks away. So they slap something together and send some warm bodies to work the show. Typically the employees working are untrained, there aren't any objectives defined for the show, the marketing message is weak and un-thought out. This causes the money spent to be nearly a lost cause. When you put together an annual program each year, your marketing gets more effective, planned and meeting your expectations.
   
   
6. Marketing fails when it is not consistent. There are two parts of consistency you need to be aware of, the first is Brand Consistency and the second is Program Consistency.
   
   
   • Brand consistency - this means every time a prospect sees your collateral, advertising, email, fax, web site etc. it all looks exactly the same and is cohesive and brand building not like each one came from different companies.
     
     
   • Program Consistency - this means how often you market. Instead of developing a web site that you do not change for 5 years and hope that solves your lack of customers problem, you need to develop a program where you are continually in front of your target market. Quarterly direct mail followed up by an emailer, online advertising and a trade show twice a year and lastly regular updates to your web site. This kind of a program will provide the consistency a prospect or customer wants and needs in order to keep your company top-of-mind.
     
     
7. Lastly, Marketing fails when the design misses a few important parts of any successful marketing program.
   
   
   • Design that establishes trust and credibility
     
     
   • Design that stands out fro the crowds
     
     
   • Design that makes some sort of offer and tells customers/prospects how to take action on that offer
     
     
   • Design that creates a sense of urgency so the prospects takes action now

Overcome these 7 issues and your marketing will be bringing you business and building brand recognition and awareness like you couldn't even imagine.

Good luck!