Top 10 Excuse Sentences that Marketers Should Never Speak
There are many excuses that marketers give for why their programs don’t result in the level of success they want. Very often, those excuses don’t hold any weight when there are clear measures you can take to improve. I took a stab at a top 10 list of those “excuse” sentences often uttered by marketers, and how we can stop leaning on those sentences as crutches for why we don’t achieve success.
10. “I don’t know the results of my campaign.” >> Why? If you build tracking into all of your campaigns, you would have some measure of the total responses, sales leads, and ultimately how those leads pan out with your salespeople. If you don’t have the tools to measure your campaigns, seek out a marketing partner with focus and expertise in marketing measurement. After all, how do you know where to spend your budget if you don’t know how successful your various programs have been?
9. “I never personalize our marketing campaigns.” >> Few of us pay attention to form letters or mass marketing we receive in the mail, the types that are obviously created that way because the senders know nothing about us other than our names and addresses. So, then, why do we as marketers create such campaigns? For your next direct mail or email campaign, consider using personalized URLs to lead them to a custom landing page. If you do happen to know your recipients’ interests in the products or services you sell, you can even use graphics or messaging that leverage that data, so that John Doe gets a mailer with an image of the new red truck he has been thinking about purchasing. Wouldn’t John be more likely to notice and respond to that mailer than one with a general message with no personalization?
8. ”Social media doesn’t fit our business.” >> There’s no aspect of social media that can help your business? Take a step back and look at all the areas in your marketing communications plan that seem to be falling short. Do you have an effective PR plan? At the very least, you can approach social media at a public relations tool in which you become a trusted resource of industry information, as well as fitting in the occasional message about your business. For example, LinkedIn and Twitter are invaluable tools to expand your business’s reach into new markets. Don’t let social media pass you by just because it “appears” that it’s not a match for you.
7. ”Our salespeople don’t follow up on leads.” >> Ask yourself if all the blame for that rests on them. Could you create a quick system for them, or better yet a CRM, that scores and ranks their leads, allowing them to focus on the warm-to-hot leads more than the cold ones? Could the leads that come from your marketing campaigns and event activity be delivered to them with more qualifying information than merely their contact information? If your marketing asked more information about what those people were interested in, your salespeople could use that information to customize their sales approach and make their communications more relevant. Help your salespeople with their time management; don’t hinder their time by sending them a boatload of leads without qualifying data.
6. ”Direct mail doesn’t generate enough responses.” >> Have you tried integrating your direct mail with a web component? For example, your next direct mail campaign could direct recipients to go to a website to download a whitepaper, sign up for a special offer, or simply learn about a new product or service. Once your recipients reach that landing page, you should collect their information, including 2-3 brief questions that would help you segment and qualify them for future sales and marketing communications. They key, however, is personalization and relevancy. You won’t get the responses you want if you don’t find some means of either personalizing the URL (pURLs) on the mail piece and/or using the data you’ve gathered previously… like, if they’ve expressed interest in purchasing a new red truck, you need to use an image of a new red truck in your marketing to them to help make it relevant to them.
5. “I have never shadowed our salespeople on their customer visits or calls.” >> A lot can be learned from getting out from behind your desk and shadowing your salespeople. Whether its on a conference call or meetings, you can benefit from listening to the questions potential customers ask about your business, as it can give you new perspectives on how you can shape your marketing messages. Also, listening to how your salespeople present themselves and your business can allow you to share ideas about alternative sales communication methods.
4. ”I don’t do much to market our business before or after events.” >> Put yourself in the shoes of the companies and individuals who you target at conferences and trade shows every year. You receive a marketing piece or email from an exhibitor a few weeks before the event, asking you to stop by their booth. But you never hear from them during the other months of the year. Would you be more inclined to pay attention to that company if they communicated in relevant ways throughout the year than if it was just for a one-time event?
3. To salesperson: “No.” (without listening to what they have to say.) >> When approached by their company salespeople with new ideas they may have, marketers often fall into the trap of saying (or thinking) “No” right away. Marketers do this because they can be so inundated with the projects they are currently managing, that they have a hard time envisioning how they can fit even one more activity into the mix. Or, marketers don’t want to consider that their salespeople may have a unique perspective from being “on the front line” and knowing what their customers need the most. Tunnel-vision is a dangerous thing, marketers!
2. ”I don’t tweet.” >> To discount Twitter as a viable communication channel is to turn your back on thousands upon thousands of eyes that could ultimately become partners, associates, and even customers. It is true that no one should think that there will be immediate return on your Twitter time investment, but if you value the practice of continual education on the topics that interest your business the most, and are willing to share information you discover as well, you WILL find value in Twitter. It’s only a time-sucker if you let it be. You don’t have to read every tweet; you can create a column in Tweetdeck for just those you follow whose opinions and information you tend to appreciate the most.
1. ”I’m too busy doing what HAS to be done to focus on what new things I COULD do.” >> When you are too busy managing the marketing programs you’ve already committed to, you will overlook new opportunities that could become integral to your success. Doing the same old thing year after year, because it’s worked before, is fine if there has been a measure of success. But you must be able to keep the door ajar for some amount of new among the old. Evolving your marketing is critical.
What do you think of these? Could you add more “excuse” sentences and their solutions to this list?
