Market, Message, Media – the Real Reason Marketing Campaigns Fail

You hear the horror stories, don’t you? 

Business owners and entrepreneurs who spend thousands on duff marketing campaigns never to break even – let alone turn a profit! 

But marketing is essential if you want your business to grow – you can’t rely on recommendations alone! 

So how can you protect yourself from making these massive marketing mistakes? 

It’s simple…

Market –> Message –> Media 

Understanding your target market is the single most important part of any marketing strategy or campaign. 

If you don’t know WHO you’re talking to – then you don’t know anything. 

You don’t know where to find them, you don’t know how to talk to them and you don’t know what will make them take the leap and buy from you. 

You can end up burning money on marketing campaigns that were never going to work, just because you jumped a couple of steps in the planning progress. 

But most businesses skip this “getting to know your target client” part – they jump straight to the “media” – thinking about where they will advertise first. 

This is a big mistake. 

You see, when you hear about other businesses getting success from various marketing campaigns it can be easy to think you’re missing out. If they’re getting 50 leads a day from Instagram Ads surely you should too? 

But unless your business, and target market, is identical to theirs – it’s not that simple. 

Let me give you an example… 

Have you ever bought a puzzle book from the newsagents? Like Puzzler or Take a Break? They’re full of crisscrosses, word searches and those infuriating cryptic crosswords? 

But on the back, they have space for an advert – It’s usually something like recliner chairs, hearing aids or Motability scooters. 

It’s the perfect place for them! You see, they understand their target market. They know everything about them: they know their struggles and frustrations, their hopes and dreams -and that they spend time doing puzzles. 

Month after month the same ads run – and I’m sure they’re getting a good return. 

So let’s say you sell adventure holidays for the elderly – the elderly buy puzzle books – surely ads on the back of a puzzle book are a great idea? Maybe you should do it too? 

Probably not. 

You see, sure, you want to get in front of the elderly – but is the back of a puzzle book where you’re likely to find the adventurous, wanderlust-filled older person who’s likely to buy from you? 

Not likely. 

Do you see what I’m trying to say? When you skip the “understanding your target market” step in your campaign planning and jump straight to thinking about the “media” you run the risk of completely missing the target. 

So what should you do instead? Dig deep. 

Before you do anything else on a marketing campaign dig deep on your target market and really understand who they are and what they want? 

Ask yourself who do I want to attract? What do they love? What do they hate? What are their biggest pains and frustrations? What do they do for fun? Where do they hang out? What magazines do they read? What frame of mind are they in? Do they have money or are they on a tight budget? 

The more detailed you go, the more targeted your marketing will be – and the more likely you are to get good results. 

Only once you have a really good understanding of your target market do you then move onto the next step in planning a campaign: your message. Then the media (where you’ll advertise) comes last… 

In my next blog post, I’ll explain why your message can make or break your marketing campaign and show you how to create a message that gets results. Watch this space…