Rocket Readings: 10 Signs Your Old Marketing Tactics Aren’t Working

10 Signs Your Old Marketing Tactics Aren’t Working:

from B2B Marketing and Lead Generation | Optify by Danie Pote

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I’m always teasing vets like Uri, Doug and Rob about what they used to do “in the old days”, and a recent conversation about marketing programs quickly turned into the team throwing jokes around about the oldest of old-school tactics.
We came up with the top 10 reasons your old marketing tactics aren’t working anymore. If you’re guilty of any of the below, you might be missing out on huge lead generation opportunities.

10. You gave away branded CDs at your last trade show

This shouldn’t really need any explanation. No one uses CDs anymore. I recently purchased a fancy new MacBook Air and as I was bragging about it to my mom, she asked me if it had a CD drive – to which I replied, “Mom, get a grip.” If you hand out CDs, you might as well be handing out floppy disks as well. Put that presentation on a USB or something else more 21st century.

9. You’re still trying to make QR codes happen

QR codes had an even shorter lifespan than CDs. My friend Adam Singer recently wrote a post on how McDonald’s actually brilliantly managed to find a use for them – but other than that, QR codes are worthless. He argues, rather, for the use of the short URL, which is “superior to QR codes in all ways.”
As I can’t ever resist anything meme- or Mean Girls-related, I’m also borrowing this from Adam:

8. No one reads your blog…because you don’t have one

Blogging isn’t for everyone, but it should be for most brands. A blog is the best way for your brand to consistently produce fresh, compelling content to keep you top-of-mind and relevant to industry news and trends.
A blog also enables a huge SEO boost because it allows search engines to frequently index new pages on your site. You won’t constantly add new static pages on your site, but you can always add new, optimized blog posts.
For tips on getting your blog off the ground, check out our guide on how to create a business plan for a corporate blog strategy.

7. Your social channels make cricket sounds

Many brands successfully make it over the first social media hurdle by setting up their social profiles. But then what? They’re stuck with a Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, SlideShare, YouTube, Quora and any other social platform you can imagine – but they don’t actually do anything with them.
If you don’t have the bandwidth to update and engage with your audience on multiple social channels, pick a few to start out with until you get the hang of things. The only thing worse than a brand not being on social is a brand with blank social pages. Creating the profiles is only the first step – the next (and most important) is to engage with your audience, no matter how small. If you have 10 followers or 10,000, they won’t provide any value – and your social worth won’t grow – if you don’t actually interact with them.

6. Your website is a subdomain

If you use one of the many free web-hosting services, you’re not getting any SEO juice because you don’t actually own your domain. Self-hosting is fairly cheap and should be one of the first things you set up when building your brand.
Building a self-hosted site on WordPress is easy to do and extremely cost effective. And, as a bonus, Optify plugs in quite nicely ☺

5. Your biggest marketing spend is the Yellow Pages

Do they still distribute these things anymore?

4. You don’t rank for non-branded keywords

Your new blog and self-hosted site aren’t doing you any good if they’re not optimized for search. If you’re not driving traffic and leads from organic search, you’re missing out on a huge, FREE lead generation opportunity.
Building your SEO strategy and campaign isn’t a one and done operation, but here are a few guides to get you started:

3. Someone else ranks for your branded keywords

It’s one thing to not rank for non-branded keywords, but you’re in not-so-good shape if you don’t even rank for your branded keywords. When someone Googles your brand name, another company shouldn’t be outranking you. Please refer to the guides in #4 above and get started ASAP.

2. You get the wrong leads

If you’re getting leads at all, it means you’re doing something right. But it doesn’t really help you if you’re only attracting leads that aren’t a fit for your product or service. This problem is more than likely the outcome of a targeting mix-up. Revisit your campaigns, ensure you’re targeting the right people, and then reevaluate the quality of leads funneling in.
Easier said than done, right? If you need a boost, check out our 3-Step Plan for Higher Quality Leads.

1. You’re not getting any leads

This is a no-brainer. Your marketing tactics aren’t working if you’re not generating any leads. There’s absolutely no argument about this. This is a different problem from #2, because in this case, you’re doing a lot more wrong than right. The purpose of your marketing programs is (or should be) to generate leads for your sales team. If this isn’t happening, you need to evaluate each strategy and tactic and find the pain points so you can fix them.
For quick tips on lead generation, check out our Essential Guide to Lead Generation Campaigns.