Top 10 ways to waste those marketing dollars!

Everyday, some company throws its marketing dollars out of the window. Not intentionally, surely. But it is wasting those dollars nonetheless.

Perhaps the company doesn’t understand marketing. Maybe it has no coordinated marketing effort, resulting in a laissez faire attitude (whomever grabs the marketing cash first gets to spend it). Sometimes, a business is poorly managed and the marketing department is simply out of control.

Whatever the reason, these businesses provide some good examples of what not to do when marketing. How do they waste marketing dollars? The first five of my list of the “top 10” money wasting techniques appears below.

. Operating without a marketing plan. If your company does not have a strategic business development plan, chances are, it is wasting marketing dollars. An effective marketing plan flows from one activity to the next, building momentum toward an ultimate goal. It focuses on the target and is not distracted by the millions of opportunities available to waste marketing dollars (charity events, golf outings, sponsorship ads, etc.). Yet, it is flexible enough to incorporate new tactics or take advantage of new opportunities that will enhance the overall marketing effort.

. Creating a marketing plan or implementing a marketing program without conducting research. If you don’t know where you are going, how are you going to get there? At the foundation of any effective strategic marketing plan is research. For example, a business may want to enhance its image and create a stronger identity in a certain marketplace. That requires a full understanding of the current image in that marketplace. A market study will reveal what factors affect the decision to use a business in a targeted market and answer questions such as what competitors are doing better or more poorly, and what marketing strategies will be most effective.

. Ignoring a marketing plan. Some companies have great marketing plans. They simply don’t follow them. Activities are not evaluated in terms of how they fit into the plan, but rather whether they are fun or will provide access to celebrities. Exceptions and exemptions will limit the effectiveness of a marketing plan: suddenly, the company is no longer moving forward proactively. They are reacting. Knee-jerk marketing has no lasting, cumulative effect. Only a focused effort will accomplish your business development goals.

. Failing to seek buy-in from the people the plan affects. The purpose of a marketing plan is to ensure that everyone is singing from the same songbook. Once a written plan is created, it must be communicated to all staff to gain their cooperation and support.

. Ignoring customer retention. A significant focus of any marketing program should be customer retention. Not only is it important that customers feel appreciated, it is also crucial that they are satisfied with your services or products. Vehicles such as surveys and follow-up interviews are essential to gauging customer attitudes. Even if negative information is elicited from an interview, wouldn’t you rather have a chance to correct the problem before you lose the customer?

Next week: The other five ways to waste your marketing dollars!