Is Bad Marketing Better Than No Marketing?
Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and researcher for CollegeScholarships.org, where recently she’s been researching student loans for parents. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.
Many people say that any publicity is good publicity. But is that really true? And how does it relate to your own marketing strategy?
Some small businesses figure that anything they can do marketing wise is going to help their business gain attention and grow. However in these current economic conditions and with the Internet making it easier to order stuff from home, every small business needs to put their very best foot forward when it comes to marketing.
Don’t Turn Off Your Customers
Several years ago, I began working at a small town bank with only a few branches. They had recently hired someone to make commercials for the bank, and they were very excited about the commercials, which featured a monkey doing all of the business at our bank. The commercial made the bank look unprofessional.
If you’re looking to build trust and attract high-end customers, you need to cater to their tastes. It is important that you think about the things that would appeal to them and create a marketing plan that will reach them and entire them to come in instead of turn them off to your business all together.
Avoid the Spam Box
If you are sending out too many messages or messages that are poorly written, you may be headed straight to the spam box. There are words that will turn off your potential customers, and they are often the buzzwords that most people think of when thinking up an advertising plan.
Think about the emails that you receive each day and delete without reading them. What words are in the titles, and why do you delete them? If you are sending out too many messages or using the wrong phrasing, you may find that you are losing the chance to really connect with your customers.
If I’m looking for a lawyer or for an accountant, I want the marketing messages to be absolutely perfect concerning grammar and spelling. I need to know that these people pay attention to detail. If you are sending out poorly worded advertising or things that are offensive, you may be turning customers away instead of attracting them.
It is like the owner of the restaurant that I used to work at. The restaurant was new, and the manager had the tendency to go up and greet each customer that came in to make sure everything was going well. This was fine, what did not work was when he would stay and talk with them for fifteen minutes, often draw up a chair and sit down.
Although the owner thought he was helping by building a relationship with the customer, he was actually driving them away because he was interrupting the service that the restaurant gave. It is important to make sure that your marketing campaign is not doing the same thing.
Hire a Professional
If writing and advertising are not your strengths, take the time to hire a professional. There are people who specialize in social media marketing and who can help you find the perfect balance for your advertising campaign. They can also help you with writing, blogging and tweeting so that you have copy that attracts customers. It will save you time and allow you to focus on your customers and growing your business.
What are your favorite examples of bad marketing or advertising? Let me know in the comments section below!
2 Responses to Is Bad Marketing Better Than No Marketing?
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Hi Alexis,
I Do agree – Bad marketing is not just bad for your image and online reputation – but is a waste of time and money. This can be very damaging if the content manages to go viral. Hiring a professional as an in-house or external consultant is definitely worth it. Marketing can become quite expensive and should be done right the first time as to evade any unnecessary mistakes and damage to your business name and or image.
Anton Koekemoer recently posted…Presentation: Your Digital Footprint In A Social Media World
Although it can cost you an average $60 a month to get a professional freelancer to write a few quality articles for you each month it is certainly worth it, especially if you are a new start-up with a clean slate. The last thing you want to do make a bad first impression to your potential new clients, as everyone knows one bad move can damage your reputation, and with social media around that’s never a good idea!