Common Mistakes to Avoid: 5 Red Flags to Watch Out For in Marketing
Date: FEBRUARY 22, 2023 • CATEGORY: MARKETING, WEBSITE, AD CAMPAIGN
5 mins read
Ever heard of the word “red flag”?
You’ve probably heard or seen it somewhere on social media platforms, either in normal conversations or a laughable meme. Originally meant as a flag used as a sign of danger warnings, Millennials and Gen Z’s repurposed the term ‘red flag’ and turned it into a warning to avoid certain characteristics of a person when choosing a date or a partner.
But, more than romantic relationships and dangers, this word is not only exclusive to describing a person, Marketing also has red flags that brands should watch out for, for their marketing strategies to thrive and be patronized.
Read on to discover the list of Marketing red flags we’ve listed down. Trust us, you’ll thank us later!
It’s not exclusive to relationships, Marketing also has red flags!
Just like in relationships, there are certain digital marketing red flags that brands should pay attention to and be aware of. Identifying the holes behind ineffective marketing strategies is one way to start addressing the red flag within your business. By exploring and digging deeper into these key warnings, we’ll find out why your current marketing activities are not working. We have a few pieces of advice to get your stagnant marketing strategies to get moving.
List of Marketing red flags your business is unconsciously unaware of:
🚩# 1 Not concentrating on lead generation
There’s no shortcut to success! Every business’ goal is to gain sales, but walking down this road is not that easy. There is a lot to consider when aiming for sales more than we think. One is to focus on generating leads. If your brand is so into gaining sales without thinking of gaining leads first, then you’ll probably lose track, a major red flag! Lead generation is locating and identifying your potential customers.
It is essential to establish a mature lead generation process first to build a strong foundation for your marketing strategies. Leads stay as leads if you don’t think of a better way to execute your marketing strategies that can make them into paying customers. Focus on generating leads and everything else will follow.
🚩# 2 Annoying pop-ups on websites
Having a website for your brand is an essential move to get your brand to be known. Your website will serve as your digital store where customers can easily browse for your products and services. Also, it’s important to consider the user experience when building a website, spoil them with a great UX and they will surely retain as your website’s frequent guests.
BUT, your customers or potential customers will not waste their time browsing your website if there are too many bugs and intrusive pop-ups. Imagine a pop-up blocking the content that you want to see, definitely an annoying red flag! This may help to make them take action and convert, but it will only ruin their user experience if there are pop-ups everywhere. If your brand is planning to put a pop-up, it is important to consider reviewing the value that it will add to your marketing efforts.
Source: Source: UI Garage
🚩# 3 Frequent checking of your own ads or keywords
Talk about trust. This is an important foundation when it comes to hiring a marketing agency. Your brand is entrusting a major part of your business as the leads and sales depend on the marketing strategies that will be executed by the agency. This includes ad campaigns whether on Google or Social Media. One red flag thing to do is to frequently click, view, and search your own ads and keywords.
This just not shows your brand’s lack of trust in the agency but also distorts your KPIs on reports - which will eventually cost you! Instead, to be able to succeed with Google Ads, regularly review and refine your account’s performance and monitor the progress of both ads and keywords.
Source: Marketing Donut
🚩# 4 Trying hard to jump in the trend to go “viral”
Stop making ineffective marketing decisions that will only last for a while. While it’s fun to gain a thousand reactions and engagement, it’s not fun to have that temporary surge of attention. Most of the time, viral content just happens to tickle the gullible side of the public and is usually a coincidence than a measured approach. This kind of marketing content is a red flag that only wants to achieve brand awareness without exerting an effort for ads.
It’s better to experiment even with a small budget on Social Media Ads and Google Ads rather than leaning on the luck of going ‘viral’ without the assurance of getting real-time results. Don’t waste time creating ad campaigns with unpredictable strategies.
Source: Hubspot
🚩# 5 Abandoning current customers
The feeling of betrayal and abandonment, that’s a red flag! Imagine dating someone that is rude to waiters and service crews, a major turn off right? That also applies to marketing. Never abandon your customers when they finally converted to look for other customers that will convert. Once you neglected them, it will ruin and harm your business’ lifetime value and can damage your brand’s reputation.
It’s important to focus on lead generation and getting sales, but dwelling too much on these things that your brand is already ignoring your past customers do not just sit right in establishing a good marketing strategy. As they say, customer retention is much cheaper than customer acquisition, so make sure to take care of your previous and present customers, and understand their journey from merely an audience to becoming your customers.
