3 Signs That You Need To Change Your Marketing Strategy ASAP

The effectiveness of your marketing strategy is one of the critical factors that determine how successfully you can grow your business. A good strategy will help you identify and connect with your audience, driving more revenue to your company. On the other hand, an ineffective strategy will end up costing you time and money, which could spell disaster in the long run.

With that in mind, here are three signs that you need to change your marketing strategy and take things back to the drawing board. 

You’re unsure what your strategy is in the first place

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” - Albert Einstein.

First and foremost, you must have clarity over what you’re doing. What is the overall purpose of your marketing efforts? Are you trying to increase your brand awareness, or drive more sales to a particular product?

Both of those goals require a profoundly different approach, and if you haven’t taken the time to carefully think your marketing strategy through, it’s very unlikely that you’re making the best use of your resources. 

Do you know how to measure your results? If so, do you know why you are measuring what you’re measuring? These are all important aspects that must be taken into consideration. In its essence, marketing is all about starting off with broad strokes and then slowly (and carefully) narrowing your focus by refining your strategy to fit your target audience. 

In short, if you’re unable to clearly explain your marketing strategy to the average joe, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. 

You have a low conversion rate 

Your conversion rate is one of the main measures of your strategy’s success. If it’s lower than where you’d like it to be, something is wrong. It’s as simple as that.

The tricky part is figuring out where exactly the problem lies. For this reason, most professional marketers implement a step-by-step strategy that can be broken down and analyzed individually using methods such as A/B testing. That way, they can chop and change small parts of the campaign until they find the sweet spot without the need to completely revamp their strategy from the ground up.

Here are some of the main culprits of a poor conversion rate:

• Your CTA isn’t converting
• The copywriting is poor
• Other issues with your landing page
• You have misidentified your target market
• An unclear value proposition

It’s up to you whether you want to run tests on each of these aspects until you find the issue or if your time would be better spent developing a completely new strategy.

You’re trying to sell to everybody 

One of the most common mistakes people make with their marketing strategy is targeting too broad of an audience. Let’s face it, it’s impossible to reach everybody at once, and even if you could, it would be a waste of time.

Not everybody is going to like your product. Not everyone will be interested in your brand or the industry you operate in. That’s not a dig at your company; it’s just a simple fact of life.

With that in mind, it’s important to narrow your focus on your core audience in an attempt to make the best use of your time and resources. Marketing campaigns that are unfocused and target too broadly usually suffer from a low engagement rate, low conversions, and poor brand perception.

So how do you fix this problem?

Firstly, conduct research to figure out who the people are who use your product. What are their demographics, where do they spend their time, and how do they communicate? Once you start to compile this information, you can assess your target audience’s needs and wants and what influences their buying behavior. After that, you can craft a strategy that appeals directly to the type of consumers who are more likely to convert into customers.

Changing your marketing strategy: Where to begin?

Here are a few tips on where to get started when rethinking your strategy so you can implement a more successful marketing campaign:

Restate your goals

As we have touched upon numerous times in this post, one of the overriding priorities of any marketing strategy is the presence of well thought out objectives - both short term and long term. Here are some steps to get you started:

• Identity your overall business goal
• Identify your marketing goals - Are you trying to drive for sales or acquire new leads? (Be specific)
• Research your market and profile your ideal customers
• Consider your value proposition and how it resonates with your audience 

Try a different angle

If your current marketing efforts are failing, it could be because you’re using the wrong medium to connect with your audience. These days, there are hundreds of different ways to get your message in front of potential buyers, so why not mix things up with one of the followings ideas:

• Try your hand at video content marketing
• Connect with people on social media
• Use ephemeral marketing (Snapchat and Instagram stories)
• Host a virtual event

Maybe it’s time to consider coaching

Finally, coaching is a fantastic way to figure out the best way to connect with your customers. Programs such as Clients on Demand have proved invaluable for many business owners out there who knew they had a great product but lacked the skills and knowledge to continually find buyers. 

A good coaching program can help you untangle your thoughts and highlight the best way to proceed with your business, allowing you to make more income with less effort (and fewer wasted resources). Of course, you have to pay for the privilege, but it would be a wise investment if you’re serious about your business. You can check out the Clients on Demand reviews channel here for information on how their program helped other business owners refine their approach.