The Rea­sons Why Av­er­age Mar­ket­ing Cam­paigns Fail

JohnDelaveraby John Delavera

There are mar­ket­ing com­pa­nies across the globe that do a very good job and help their clients see real results.

There are not many, how­ever, that can claim pow­er­house, house­­hold-name cam­paigns and prod­ucts to their credit.

The rea­son for this is gen­er­ally found in the ap­proach the best of the best take to mar­ket­ing. Ex­perts that cul­ti­vate mar­ket­ing for some of the world’s best-known com­pa­nies and prod­ucts tend to know a few se­crets that oth­ers do not. They ap­proach mar­ket­ing in a wholly dif­fer­ent way and reach out to con­sumers on a dif­fer­ent level. 

So, why is it that some mar­ket­ing ef­forts pro­duce good re­sults, but oth­ers cat­a­pult prod­ucts into the pub­lic eye and hold them there? The an­swer is of­ten found in what typ­i­cal mar­ket­ing cam­paigns might lack. While they can and do make sales and have a pos­i­tive im­pact on a com­pany, they of­ten lack in the fea­tures that can re­ally make them shine. The re­al­ity is that for se­ri­ous, run­away suc­cesses to oc­cur, mar­ket­ing must go be­yond the safe, stan­dard and tried-and-tested. Even the best of stan­dard mar­ket­ing cam­paigns might fail to at­tract the at­ten­tion de­sired be­cause they of­ten do not:

  • Take a holis­tic ap­proach – Mar­ket­ing a sin­gle prod­uct is of­ten not enough to re­ally sell it. Even if the cam­paign is solid, it can fall short if the com­pany is not in­cluded in the mix. Some of the best-known mar­ket­ing ef­forts na­tion­ally and even in­ter­na­tion­ally are far reach­ing in na­ture. They pro­mote not only a par­tic­u­lar prod­uct, but also a com­pany and even a way of life. Im­age and people’s per­cep­tion of that im­age are every­thing in suc­cess­ful mar­ket­ing. Suc­cess­ful prod­ucts and their mak­ers are syn­ony­mous by de­sign, not chance.
  • Take chances – Many mar­ket­ing cam­paigns are de­signed to play it safe. The goal is to sell a prod­uct; not cat­a­pult it into every house­hold pos­si­ble. Risk-tak­ing is a way of life for some of the most suc­cess­ful com­pa­nies. Their cam­paigns go be­yond the tested and the re­sults show. If cards have been played right on the holis­tic ap­proach to ad­ver­tis­ing, even a bad cam­paign can pro­duce pos­i­tive results.
  • Reach out on mul­ti­ple lev­els – Safe mar­ket­ing cam­paigns will of­ten sell a prod­uct solely on its mer­its. Ad­ver­tise­ments and com­mer­cials speak to the fea­tures and ap­peal to con­sumers’ logic. These cam­paigns can and do sell, but they are not likely to pro­duce huge re­sults. To re­ally en­joy suc­cess, mar­ket­ing ef­forts must reach out to peo­ple on lev­els that go be­yond logic and rea­son. Ap­peal­ing to people’s emo­tions, the things that in­flu­ence them and even the sym­bols they trust and rec­og­nize can make all the dif­fer­ence in the world. Highly suc­cess­ful mar­keters know these things and plan accordingly.

Play­ing it safe with mar­ket­ing can pro­duce mod­er­ate and even pleas­ing re­sults. Av­er­age cam­paigns, how­ever, are not likely to take a prod­uct and make it an in­cred­i­ble suc­cess. Stan­dard mar­ket­ing fails on this front be­cause it lacks the abil­ity to sell on mul­ti­ple lev­els. The world’s best mar­keters know how to sell not only prod­ucts, but also emo­tions and even lifestyles.