What marketing tools don't work for you?

We ask this question when we welcome subscribers to our e-zine. Their answers are consistent: "We sent out a mailing and got no response," they may say.  Or they tell us, "Our letters, postcards, or brochures failed."

What went wrong?

You may be surprised.  The reasons you find here may not be what you suspect.  You may be thinking, "Direct mail letters (or other marketing communications such as a Yellow Pages ads, brochures, newspaper ads, etc.) just don't work for someone in my business."

Because you and your 3-fold brochure, sales letter, or other marketing message are not in front of us, we can't pinpoint exactly why it fell short.  We can, though, give you five of the most common errors that may be shutting the door on the results you want.

And just by reversing these mistakes your marketing communications can become winners!

Costly Error #1 - Not Precisely Pinpointing Your Target Market

One of our clients, a leading networking company, relied heavily on seminars for its sales.  To boost attendance at one seminar, it placed an ad in the local newspaper inviting anyone and everyone to attend.   With its wide-open y'all come approach, the ad attracted students looking for information and a free lunch.

Instead of desperately trying to fill seminar seats, the company would have done better to more precisely identify its target -- the information technology managers and executives who make decisions about networks.

Even if your message is the greatest, it will fail if it doesn't reach the right people.

Costly Error #2 - Spending Money On The Wrong Marketing Medium

A new video producer we interviewed for an article told us this story. After creating a video about dog training, he developed a marketing strategy -- to place a $600 ad in TV Guide.  After all, he reasoned, there has to be a pack of dog owners among its 20 million readers.  Perhaps.  But only one of them ordered the video.

He would have a greater chance of success by trying out an ad in a publication geared to dog lovers or, perhaps, purchasing a list from one of these publications and testing a mailing.

The better you can describe and understand your market, the more likely you are to find them.  And the more you zero in on exactly where they hang out in groups (such as readers of specialized publications or newsletters), the less you risk choosing a time-and-money-swallowing marketing medium.

Costly Error #3 - Putting a Fog Around Your Message

Sometimes business people write marketing communications with the belief they should, above all else, be clever.  (Or, worse, they pay others to concoct these witty or whimsical messages for them.)  As a result, their main message becomes clouded. Another frequent fault is to obscure their message with jargon.

Or they may bury their message beneath a display of sensational verbal or graphic fireworks.  Think of the number of Web sites you've seen where the message is submerged or nonexistent.