Don't Be A Marketing Dinosaur

The world of marketing moves fast, and the rapid tide of technology is quickly making a lot of marketing techniques obsolete. If you aren’t up to date with the latest trends, you could find yourself using strategies that simply don’t work anymore. Customers will be put off by a company that is still using out of date marketing tools, because it suggests that you are unable to evolve. They will be more inclined to deal with businesses that are at the forefront of their field. Here are some of the most common marketing strategies that you should definitely be getting rid of.

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Spokesmodels

Using sexualised images has long been a go-to for a lot of marketing campaigns, but it is nowhere near as successful as it used to be. There is so many companies doing it, that the impact is often lost completely. Campaigns of this nature can also backfire. In recent years, a lot of businesses have become the target of internet campaigns due to the over the top nature of their marketing campaigns. It only takes a few hours for social media to rally against a company in huge numbers, and the bad publicity that it brings can be incredibly damaging. A lot of customers don’t want an idealistic advertising campaign anymore. Instead, they want something more real and relatable.

Content Rich Websites

One of the best ways to stand out from the crowd online, is having a website filled with good quality content. The mistake that a lot of businesses are making, is thinking that filling their website with as much content as possible will have the same effect. It won’t. If customers visit a website that is jam packed with low quality articles, it just seems unorganized and desperate. It is much better to focus on a small number of articles, making sure that they are actually useful. People will not revisit your website, or share it, unless they find something valuable on there. Even if you do have quality content on there somewhere, potential customers don’t want to dig through ten rubbish articles before getting to something worthwhile. Unless they are presented with what they want immediately, they will just go elsewhere.

Business Jargon

Another common mistake is trying to trick customers into thinking you have a revolutionary new product, by making up your own category for it. You need to give consumers a bit more credit, and realise that they will see straight through this. It can also completely confuse the message of your advert. If the main selling points of your product are buried under mountains of meaningless business jargon, then customers will think you are all bark and no bite. It is much better to sell your products in clear terms, that people can understand, and highlight the benefits. Let the products speak for themselves.

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Brochures ​

Let’s face it, people don’t like seeing adverts. There are plenty of browser extensions out there designed to hide them. So they are not likely to spend their time looking through an entire brochure of advertising material. Clever marketing campaigns target potential customers who have already shown some interest in your product, and tailor marketing materials towards them personally. Generalised brochures will cost you a lot to produce, and are unlikely to see any significant return in terms of sales.