Ten Marketing Plan Practices that Waste Dollars

You probably judge you’ve seen all the waste you can possibly see by observing government in action, but wait, there’s more. To evaluate your company’s marketing program, here are 10 techniques for wasting marketing energy and dollars that will renew your faith in the government (imagine that):

Always shoot from the hip marketing plans.

This is what we may call the most common marketing plan in business today. It’s actually no marketing opinion at all, but many otherwise sophisticated companies believe they are marketing their products or services effectively by doing a mailing now, a couple of ads in the plunge, and a brochure somewhere in between. From time to time, the price sheet is revised.

Someone comes up with a “great idea” and that’s all the marketing plan strategy for this month or this quarter. Even though it sounds ridiculous, this is what passes as marketing plans in far too many businesses. It all adds up to no marketing plan, no thought, no organization, no purpose – and no results.

Prepare a marketing plan only when more sales are needed.

Companies of all sizes are guilty of spending their marketing dollars at one particular point: when sales lag. That’s the time someone finds enough money to sign up for a trade show or get out a promotional flier.

Expect astronomical results from a slight budget marketing plan.

There’s a certain marketing mindset. Send out a mailing and someone comes to the conclusion that there should be at least a 25% response. On what basis? List? Correct audience? Offer strong or weak? Tested? If $25,000 is spent on a marketing campaign, why does management expect $2 million in sales?

Don’t waste time and money on research for a marketing plan.

Plug into the storerooms of almost any company and what will you find? Cartons and cartons of expensive brochures, self-mailers, flyers and dozens of other marketing materials gathering dust. Research prospective customers, how they think, their buying patterns and their problems in every marketing plan.

Don’t waste money on expensive design and artwork in the marketing plan.

Crooked thinking is the cornerstone of ineffective marketing plans. Businesses mount tremendous advertising campaigns, but refuse to allocate the dollars necessary to produce quality ads. The same is true of logos. Quality artwork costs money and it’s worth every dime you pay for it. In fact, in the long bustle, you’ll save money because you’ll accept the result you want.

Never spend more that $499 on a Web site in a marketing plan.

The e-mail has an offer that sounds great. “FREE Web situation.” Of course, the site is free. Why not? The idea is to hook you on free so you’ll mark up for the company to host your site. It’s the monthly fee that you’re buying.

The Web sites themselves are all the same – “Just fill in the blanks” or “Send us a copy of your brochure.” There’s no strategy, no marketing plan, and no objective. Along with it – no results.

Never hasten an ad more than once in any marketing plan.

When you receive a trade magazine, you discover it is coming out in a few months with a Special edition featuring your industry. So you cave in and catch out an ad. It doesn’t work. Why should it? You would have been better off not spending the money. A business-to-business ad must run between three and seven times to achieve results. Good advertising has a cumulative effect in any marketing plan. Running an ad once is a kill.

Rarely publish a newsletter in the marketing belief.

The new marketing person decides it’s time for a company newsletter. Certainly, a newsletter can be one of the most cost-efficient ways to stay in touch with both customers and prospects. A lot of energy goes into getting the first edition online and in the mail. The marketing idea calls for a newsletter four times a year. It never happens. More money has been wasted.

Refuse to work with the press in the marketing plan.

The best way to handle the press is to view editors and reporters as the enemy. Their goal is to get you and to deliberately misquote you. This is a popular business notion of the press. As a result, company officials avoid talking to reporters. Yet, when these same firms send out news releases, they are filled with fluff, puff and hyperbole.

Editors are interested in expertise and fresh ideas. Their readers thrive on cutting edge issues. Communicating your record through both the print and electronic media creates a level of credibility that cannot be attained any other scheme. By failing to utilize the press, companies raze a well-known opportunity.

Never seek professional marketing advice and counsel for a marketing plan.

For some reason, marketing is often viewed as a do-it-yourself function. Who needs expensive marketing experts? Who needs strategy? Who needs a coherent marketing plan? Who needs quality copy writing for collateral materials? Who needs top-notch creative thinking? Who needs expertise when it comes to a Web presence?

Despite the pervasive “we can do it ourselves” attitude, the evidence points out that most companies are very dreadful at marketing. They try to Cover it up by hiring more salespeople or changing sales mandates.

There’s another option. Get yourself marketing counsel, someone who is objective and will tell you the truth.

These 10 ways to waste marketing dollars are real-world experiences. They happen every day in too many companies. Marketing is too important to a company’s success to be misused. Because marketing can be a company’s primary way of getting, keeping and pleasing customers, money needs to be invested productively in an effective marketing plan.