6 Marketing Tactics That Won’t Grow Your Firm

Knowing which marketing tactics you should be integrating into your marketing strategy can be confusing.

In a single search, you’ll often find one blog telling you ‘marketing is a numbers game, get out there and speak to as many people as possible’ while another tells you ‘it’s all about a targeted approach, allowing interested parties to come to you.’

This flood of mixed messages can often be confusing.

When doing my own research on any given topic, I often find myself wishing that there would be an explanation in plain English of the most important tactics to avoid. That way I could at least fall asleep at night knowing I’m not making the biggest blunders.

So I thought I’d write a blog on 6 of the most common marketing tactics that WON’T build brand awareness and loyalty, WON’T position you as a thought leader and WON’T generate new leads for your firm.

In other words, if it’s growth you’re looking for, this is what not to do…

1. Neglect databases

Do you have contact details from lost leads or old clients just lying around? Have you collected email addresses from an event and left the list gathering dust?

Well…There’s no point in gathering audience data if you’re not doing anything with it.

To prevent potential business from falling through the cracks, you should be taking advantage of email marketing and automated email sequences. This will ensure you are front of mind the next time your prospects are in the market for the services your firm provides.

2. Have an ineffective website

Even the most beautiful website is pretty much useless if it doesn’t attract any meaningful traffic and encourage visitors to get in touch.

Which means search engine and mobile optimization, coupled with a clear call-to-action, are far more important than fancy web design.

Also, your website shouldn’t be a reflection of what you’re trying to sell (or worse, the internal structure of your firm) but a way of educating potential clients on the solutions that you offer.

3. Underestimate social platforms

B2B brands that connect with their buyers on an emotional level earn twice the impact over marketers who are still trying to sell business or functional value. Buyers feel a much closer personal connection to their B2B brands than to consumer brands. (LinkedIn Pulse)

Many firms now have social media accounts. However few actually leverage their audiences.

When one third of the world use social media networks regularly (Source: Hubspot), only being reactive on social media is a wasted opportunity.

To get in front of the right people you need to proactively interact with interested audiences, and direct them to valuable branded content on your website that offers a solution to their specific pain points.

4. Talk generally to audiences

It’s not possible (or profitable) to be everything to everybody. There’s little point investing time, effort and money into marketing if it’s not resonating with the right people and speaking to them directly.

Rather than blanket marketing to anyone that’ll listen, you should try to put yourself into your ideal clients shoes in order to understand the kinds of conversations/thoughts they’re having.

By understanding their thought processes and the reasons behind their decision making, you will be able to properly utilize targeting to attract the people who are in most need of the services you offer.

5. Don’t track success (& failures)

When it comes to digital marketing, firms can often fall into the trap of only tracking results at the END of a campaign.

This means whole campaigns risk being written-off as failures.

Consistently tracking the results of your campaigns DURING the process, means you can optimize them accordingly and achieve greater results throughout. For example, if a certain campaign isn’t performing as well as expected, efforts and spend can be redirected to a campaign on a more success-bound track.

6. Rely on random acts of marketing

Expecting random acts of marketing to generate consistent results is where most firms fall short.

If you listen to nothing else in this blog, at least listen to this: If you want to see consistent results, you need to devise a tailored, longterm marketing strategy.

Firms doing this are the ones reaping the sweetest reward: measurable results and higher growth returns.

The team here at JTN is highly skilled at helping firms just like yours put their best foot forward. They will successfully get your firm noticed for the right reasons and, in turn, increase demand for you service.

They achieve this by devising a tailored road map that WILL build brand awareness and loyalty, WILL position you as a thought leader and WILL generate new leads for your firm.

In other words, if it’s growth you’re looking for, get in touch.