Are you frustrated by the results of your marketing? Sometimes the reasons behind a failed marketing effort can be elusive. But in my experience, most marketing stumbles (and we all have them) fit into one of the following categories:
1. The college try. With this syndrome, we try to make a marketing activity work but secretly hope it doesn't so that we won't have to do it again. A good example is social media. Ask yourself, did I give this campaign enough time to truly develop before I decided to give up? Did I try it just to say that I had, without being truly passionate about making it succeed?
2. The time-short investment. In this category, we don't invest as much time as we do money. An example might be a seminar for which you spend a significant amount of money but not enough time practicing your presentation and planning your follow-up strategy. Ask yourself if you invested enough time in your campaign to make it work.
3. The stroke-of-a-pen approach. The hope here is that if we write a big enough check, new business will flood in. The reality is that without sufficient focus, heavy application of financial resources often brings disappointing results. Ask yourself if you merely threw money at something without thorough investigation.
