Why Does Modern Business Marketing Fail?

It is very evident for a long time that people will buy what they want, not what you want to sell. Marketing seems easy these days as the internet and other digital tools define modern marketing. But this is just an illusion as even modern marketing can fail if the marketeer lacks the right skills to use it in its entirety. The belief that the marketers who have been working over the years for designing the marketing strategies will make a good strategy is a myth if they have not upgraded themselves with modern marketing skills.

Connecting to a large audience worldwide has become effortless, but it can't just turn your business into a corporate giant. All your leads won't become your customers overnight. People receive thousands of ads every day, while they read even less than 100. Lack of clarity on this aspect is a cause for the failure of modern marketing techniques.

A survey conducted by the SBI in 2014 recorded 71% of failure in marketing strategies. There are different reasons due to which the techniques fail.

Here are a few reasons why marketing may fail:

1. Guesswork

You will never accidentally land with a great marketing technique. It requires customer and market research, follow-ups, making the right decisions, and continuously monitoring the devised plan. Market fluctuations, changing regulations are dynamic factors that have to be studied and updated in your knowledge base.

In today's market scenario, tracking data of every second has become crucial. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) must be studied well with the data patterns to change your brand growth positively.

2. Lack of uniqueness

If you wish to be a leader in the market, you must not be a follower, just blindly doing the same thing as everyone. Your marketing strategy should be different.

3. Getting influenced by the sales department

Marketing and sales are two different terminologies, even if used together many times. Marketing is a long term plan.

Although the marketing team should not get influenced by the sales team, they must work hand in hand to produce better results. There should be transparency and communication between them. Though the marketing team does customer research, salespeople are the ones who interact face to face with customers. This can help in understanding your customers better.

4. Not taking feedback

Taking feedback from every stakeholder involved with the business is key to successful marketing. Many times a lot of customers have the same complaints or suggestions. Resolving these complaints and taking the suggestions as inputs can help in building a brand of your product. It will also offer a great customer experience as they will feel cared for and considered.

5. Sticking to a single technique

Marketing is a broad and diversified field. Thus, one must employ different channels and tools. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click(PPC) can boost the conversion rate. A combination of outbound and inbound marketing strategies will deliver better results than sticking to one separately. It will help in a holistic market reach.

6. Not monitoring and analysing the results

You must systematically track the results and work on them to further improvise. The monitoring and analysis will help in knowing what works and what does not. Thus, you can eliminate the ones that do not work and focus on the ones that deliver good results. You can understand the metrics and obtain detailed reports using analytics tools, unlike the traditional methods that involve a lot of work. Tailoring your ads for individual segments will help in attracting a lot of customers.

7. Ignoring competition

You must know your competitors' strengths and weaknesses well to pitch your unique selling point(USP). Sometimes, when a company is well established, they tend to ignore the competition. It can be a blunder. Competitor research must be one of the core aspects of making a strategy.

8. Lack of goal-setting

Setting your goals and writing them down is crucial to track them and invest your resources wisely. It also helps to check whether you are working in the right direction. Your goals should be clear and achievable. The entire team should be aware of these goals. So, each team member will work towards attaining these goals.

The goal-setting should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. It will help in making a good plan and delegating tasks to team members.

9. Low customer engagement

Customer engagement using social media handles and emails is necessary. Opt-in forms on your business website are also helpful for the same. Connecting with people on the ground is as critical as virtual engagement. These things help in building long term customer relationships.

Relationship marketing can help acquire a loyal customer base. It will build brand loyalty contributing to the success of your company. Customers are much more valuable than just generating revenues. User-friendly site, timely resolution of queries, follow up of leads are effective ways to engage customers.

10. Selling all the time

A good marketing strategy terminates the need to sell all the time. Your website should have articles, blogs, graphics, and other digital content about the industry you offer services. It is known as content marketing in modern marketing terms.

You need to understand your customers and create content that will influence their purchasing decisions. It requires a little creativity and patience. It won't give immediate results but will help create a potential customer base for the long term. But a word of caution, the internet is full of information and content, thus focusing on quality over quantity.

11. Assuming that a great product doesn't need marketing

A product markets itself only when established successfully in the market. But the establishment requires a successful marketing plan initially. Your strategy must tell the customers why they should buy your product or service. The value proposition of your product should be well defined and appealing to the people.

12. Assuming everyone is your customer

Identify your potential clients and establish your niche market to target. Not every human being is your customer. Market research about your customers is very crucial to make any marketing plan successful because they are the ones who will define the success of your strategy. Making personas with needs, demographics, interests, and values will help in the effective segmentation of customers. Along with these, the personas should also highlight the relationship of your customers with technology.

13. Ineffective employee engagement

Not only customers but also employees and your team are key stakeholders in deciding your marketing strategy's success. Everyone should be assigned the task that suits their area of expertise. They should be aware of their responsibilities and timelines. Create a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) chart to avoid confusion and misunderstanding in the team. Thus, everyone will know who is responsible and accountable for each task and who should be consulted and informed.

Feedback and inputs from the entire company can also contribute to the marketing technique. The company must maintain its team's enthusiasm level with activities like outing, team lunch, activities, or games.

Conclusion

These are a few of the reasons why modern marketing strategies fail. The ones who have crashed before should analyse their reasons for failure and work on improving them. Similarly, while devising a new plan, one must see that their marketing team does not make the mentioned mistakes. A good marketing strategy can work wonders and transform your business.

Also Read:

1) 5 Manufacturing Business Ideas for Women Entrepreneurs
2) How Can You Find The Best Location To Start A Business?
3) Wake up to the Power of the Shopkeeper's Nation & Support Small Businesses
4) How to Advertise a Small Business? Some cost effective ideas
5) Top-10 Future-Proof Business Ideas for 2021 and Beyond