WHEN SHOULD I STOP MARKETING?
A friend asked me the other day “When can we stop marketing?”
I smiled and suggested that the answer may be never but it could also be right away (it should be noted that she works for a company that we are not contracted with so I do not have any skin in the game). “Why do you want to stop?” I asked.
Then she rambled some reasons off but the gist of it was
Our ads are just adding to the maelstrom of crap out there – I don’t want to annoy people… people unsubscribed from our mailing list plus no one is engaging with our Facebook page.
Basically, it sounded like a marketing existential crisis.
To Stop Or Not To Stop
You might have been surprised earlier when I said you could stop marketing right away but it wouldn’t be the right thing to do – it would mainly be a reason to pivot. There are two reasons why you could stop marketing:
- Your marketing is genuinely losing you money – in which case, I would say you need to change your strategy rather than stop.
- You feel so loathsome and part of a corporate machine adding to the crap that it’s affecting your life – in which case I would say you need to relax a little and then frame it differently in your mind. We don’t have to call it “marketing” or “advertising” we can call it communication or connecting or outreach. And I would also change my strategy because if you feel loathsome – you probably don’t have enthusiasm for your brand and the communications you are putting out into the world and if you don’t – why should/would your current and potential customers?
The main reason why you shouldn’t stop marketing is that you have a product or service that needs to be sold. Depending on the size of your business – you may say that word of mouth has treated you ok so far, well, at it’s very essence all marketing is word of mouth even if it’s organic. You starting a business and telling your friends and family that is in essence marketing. Them telling their friends – that’s marketing, and you don’t feel disgusting about that now, do you? So why should you when you are connecting with people via a different platform be it traditional media or any of the new platforms that we have access to nowadays..
So if you see an unsubscribe don’t feel bad assume that that person was not the best fit for your company not that everyone that gets your messages is perturbed by your very existence. If on the hand no one ever opens your emails then it might be the time to rethink your content. One client recently was scared after many unsubscribes in one email but it was the first email after these people had been added to their list after entering a competition which can be expected after all we use entry guidelines like subscribe to win but inevitably some people will unsubscribe once the competition has finished.
Another way to make you not want to feel like giving up on marketing is embracing your customer find out what works – sift through the analytics; use AI; a simple chat bot can prequalify your customers but also gain valuable insight into what your customers are expecting from you, your website or a given page.
Will they buy the cow if they are getting the milk for free?
Another customer was scared about giving too many tips away for free – I say give more and give it better because:
- you have more knowledge than your readers
- you will never not be better than them at your job and
- they will never have the time to do what you do because they already have a role
At the end of the day the only reason we think you should ever stop marketing is when you close your doors.
If connecting with your customers is getting too hard or feels likes its not working . Don’t give up! The value good marketing brings is invaluable! Be patient, be persistent, create content that is true to your brand, offer value, embrace your customer and make it easy for them to get what they want.
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