Your advertising is (probably) a waste of money

In tight times there's increasing scrutiny on advertising spend and making sure it works its socks off to deliver. But so often there feels a sense of despair and waste when it comes to knowing what is (and isn't) working...

SO WHY THE WASTE?

1. You don't know what your goals are other than 'sell things'

2. Your marketing plan is a list of possible advertising tactics and events that you read about online. Its lacking a target, positioning, strategy and (then) tactical plan covering all parts of the mix.

3. You aren't clear enough on your brand target. Something like 'people with skin problems' just isn't enough in the hyper competitive beauty world where consumers have literally millions of options....

4. Your advertising target is more like a Tinder bio ...
"Sarah, a 27year old piano enthusiast who likes to crochet on Wednesday night at her community Stitch 'n Bitch" might be fine for selling crafts as a home business, but isn't a reasonable audience if your ambitions are for a 7 figure business.

5. You choose advertising channels based on what's cool or trending rather than understanding WHY people are on the channel and whether its the right fit.

6. You've spent all your money on content generation with amazing visuals, copy, audio, video - and have only a small amount left to actually spend on media...

7. You're hoping your content is so good it will go viral

8. You're not clear on the type of decisions consumers make for your category >> fast & impulsive (FMCG) or more considered & researched (finance, cars, premium skincare).

9. You haven't thought about the frequency of purchase - is it a 'one and done' bought rarely, or a regular shop

SO HOW DO YOU GET CONFIDENT WITH YOUR SPEND?

🎯 Write a clear marketing plan - and then the advertising strategy that sits underneath it. Marketing is more (much more) than just advertising and its vital all the pieces of the plan line up to achieve your goal.

🎯 Do your homework upfront, talk to your target customers about where they go to learn, shop and share referrals and you just might find yourself advertising somewhere unexpected... that WORKS.

🎯 Stretch it out (Little and often.)
Spending all your money on one event or activity is hoping that enough of your audience will see it AND act for the longer term.

🎯 Go for reach.
The likely pool of people who 'could' buy your product is much bigger than you think.

🎯 Go hard in a channel where there are a good portion of potential target audience. You're likely NOT Coca-Cola or leader in your category, so don't feel like you have to be everywhere at ALL times.

Building a business is a long slow process. Be careful not to compare your today to someone else’s ‘last year’. You’ll run out of money and sanity faster than you can say ‘ but I’m waiting to go viral’…