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As an extra bonus at the end of the book Marketing Strategy, readers will learn about the most common pitfalls they might encounter, and how to avoid them.
Marketing Strategy is the book I wish I'd had when I started out in marketing. It covers everything you need to know to take a strategy from the barest glimmering of an idea to a fully fledged campaign and beyond. It's packed with case studies, frameworks, interviews with top marketers, and brand-new information.
What's more, as a special bonus for readers, there's a section at the end on common marketing pitfalls and how to avoid them. This chapter takes what my experience tells me are the ten most common marketing pitfalls, explains how they happen, and gives readers the tools they need to both avoid and overcome them.
The ten pitfalls
- Lack of vision. Without a well-defined vision, your campaign will lack focus and direction.
- Overcomplicating things. It's great to have a sophisticated idea, and fantastic to have cutting edge tech to back that idea up. But be very careful of making your strategy too complicated. Simplicity is key to efficiency.
- A lack of structure. A good team structure is key for communication, focus, and morale. If people don't know what they're responsible for or who they're reporting to, your strategy will quickly fall apart. The same goes for your strategic execution: you need structured processes in place to make everything run smoothly.
- Problems with decision making. Are your team leaders indecisive? Inconsistent? Then you're going to have a problem.
- Bad communication. Our basic job as marketers is to communicate with customers. If we can't communicate well amongst ourselves, how do we expect to get our message across to an audience?
- Being closed-minded or short-sighted. Seeking short-term gains over longer term rewards is a persistent problem in marketing. In my experience, it's always worth opening your eyes and your mind to the bigger picture.
- Ignoring your customer. The customer may not always be right, but they are always worth listening to. Ignore them at your peril.
- Mistaking tactics for strategy. Tactics are an essential part of any strategy, but they are not the strategy itself. Firing off tactics without a clear plan will never bring you the results you need.
- Not knowing what you're aiming for. Without clear goals, you won't have milestones to mark your progress, or a roadmap to follow. You'll be striking out in the dark when you could be following a clear strategic path.
- Not managing your team well. Maybe you've matched responsibilities and people poorly. Maybe motivation is low. Whatever the reason, it's vital that you keep your team motivated and working at their best. Your people are your most valuable resource, so deploy them wisely.
