Whether it’s $500 or $5 million that’s being spent on marketing by companies and organizations, the chances are good the results are the same — failure. More money is being thrown at marketing and advertising than ever before, and yet the general track record of those efforts is dismal, with most objectives not being met and most dollars being used barely covering expenses or failing to generate a positive return-on-investment. In fact, in many cases you would have been better off keeping the money in the bank to earn simple interest.

How could that be? How could so much money be wasted on something so critical to the success of any organization or company?

There are lots of reasons and no simple answers. But here are a few of the more obvious ones.

1. Lack of Rigorous Analysis

Whether it’s because they shy away from numbers or because they illogically believe in their own power to instinctively know what the market needs, many marketers fail to apply tough, rigorous thinking to most marketing problems, especially in the early stages of planning. To make matters worse, when they do try to apply analytical thinking, they often rely on the Swiss-cheese approach to market research — focus groups — which is flimsy and full of holes.

2. Overreliance on Creativity (including vacuous slogans)

Creative ads don’t necessarily sell products or ideas. They might, but there’s no direct correlation. A straight, simple message may be just as effective as an ad that wins some creative award. Marketers gravitate towards the business because they LIKE doing creative things. They like pretty or cool ads. They like spiffy graphics. Some of them are even frustrated Hollywood wannabes who took a safer route into advertising. But none of that matters if some defined objectives are not met — if sales don’t rise or opinions aren’t changed. Creativity in marketing is highly overrated.

3. Poor Targeting or Positioning

This failure is more often rests within a company or organization and not with an ad agency. That is, by not carefully carving out a clear and compelling differentiation or finding the most optimal target market for the product or service to begin with, the marketing communications is bound to fail once it’s launched. In other words, the greatest ad campaign can’t save dumb strategic marketing decisions like going after the wrong people for the wrong reasons. And yet it happens time and time again.

4. Questionable Pricing Strategy

Aside from their knowledge about market research, pricing is probably the weakest area of knowledge for most marketers. Not only do they lack the general principles of pricing, but they often fail to take a token interest in the subject when given the opportunity to do so. It’s not surprising. Again, pricing is a quantitative subject matter and most marketers would rather create ads. It’s also an area where most marketers get no formal training. The sad reality is — most marketing professionals would fail a quiz on pricing.

5. Overly Optimistic or Weak Marketing Plans

Marketing plans are the lifeblood of most marketing efforts, and yet most of them are not worth the paper they’re written on. Some are overly optimistic in their forecasts with no research to back up the favorable forecast. Others are sloppily written and lack rigorous analysis or thought. Some are prefunctory. That is, the marketer knows they are required and so he or she just plugs in the numbers the bosses from above want to hear. All of those scenarios are recipes for disaster.

6. No Input and Output Connection

Related to the poor marketing plans is another failure in which the inputs (those things that are going to be done such as advertising, PR, direct mail, etc.) have not been directly connected to the results (sales, profits, opinion or behavior changes, etc.) That is, if you spend $50,000 on these ads the number of widgets that will be purchased will go up 27% in this quarter or a total sales output of $97,000. Most marketers would rather talk about “brand awareness.” They’ll say: “This is a brand building campaign, which you can really measure.” Bull. Measure it accurately, show results or don’t do it. Make the connection between the effort and the result.

7. Faulty or Weak Implementation

You can have the greatest product or service in the world and have the best market strategy in place, but unless you implement that strategy and pay attention to the details — then it’s all a waste of time and money. I’m talking about things like getting out direct mail pieces late or launching web sites when there’s incomplete information. I’m talking about pulling the plug on ad campaigns before it’s had a chance to “sink in.” I’m talking about organizational infighting or indecision that has marketing and sales efforts working in opposite or competing directions. I’m also talking about laziness where it turns out it’s more fun to create something than it is to launch and track it.

How can you avoid these pitfalls? Easy. First, spend a lot more time thinking through the marketing issues and options upfront before any creative effort is planned or launched. Second, don’t do a focus group unless its sole purpose is to generate ideas and not develop strategy. Third, be a lot tougher on your targeting and positioning strategies. If you don’t have a handle on either subject, I suggest you read Your Gut Is Still Not Smarter Than Your Head by Kevin Clancy and Peter Krieg. Fourth, I strongly suggest you start learning more about pricing. It’s an important and valuable piece of the marketing arsenal. Fifth, write a realistic and detailed marketing plan, not one built on hope and fluff. Sixth, tie all marketing efforts with results.

Set specific goals. If you don’t achieve them, find out why they didn’t work. And finally, follow through with your plan of attack. Stick with the details, even if you find it boring or beneath you. The devil is literally in the details, and unless you watch those details, you won’t know what works and doesn’t work. One last comment — be very wary of marketers and advertisers who talk a good game but who shy away from talking numbers. That should be a warning flag that they’re using only half their brain and will likely deliver only half the results you desire. Good luck and happy marketing.

Gene Pinder is the Assistant Director of the Executive Master’s Program in Department of Health Policy and Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health. He also runs his own marketing consulting and research firm, PinOak Analytics. He has been in the marketing and communications business for more than 20 years.

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Marketers in for-profit ventures and non-profit organizations can learn a lot about marketing from the way the Obama campaign has been run. Here are key five lessons:

Consistent Branding and Positioning

One of the strengths of the Obama campaign has been to effectively channel the “change” mantra over the past 18 months without wavering. Not only was this message consistent with the Senator’s overall views, but it resonated with the public. Contrast that effort with the Hillary Clinton and John McCain campaigns, which both experimented with different messages at different times. Marketers of all stripes would be wise to find a resonating branding message and stick with it over time instead of bouncing from one slogan after another.

Relationship and Database Marketing

The Obama campaign hasn’t just mastered new media techniques for generating buzz and contributions. They’ve made it personal. From the viral Facebook campaigns to the personalized e-mail messages, the Obama people have made every individual feel important and part of a larger team. In other words, they created evangelists. That’s just good, sound marketing – using positive word of mouth build a wellspring of loyal “customers.” It’s no accident that Senator Obama’s early community activist days have helped him in this election. He built up his support from the ground up. Marketers could and should be doing the same. Every strong word-of-mouth customer is worth his or her weight in gold.

Measuring Results

The Obama campaign has not just built up strong bases of support, but they have measured effectiveness every step of the way. In other words – a strong analytical approach. Based on reports, it appears the Obama campaign has kept track of everything – what works, what doesn’t work, and what to apply to every situation. How many marketers can say the same thing about their efforts? Running commercials or ads and not carefully measuring effectiveness or results? If so, then you may be vulnerable when your bosses want to see what they are getting for their money.

Money Helps

A large marketing war chest doesn’t guarantee revenue success, just as a large contribution base doesn’t guarantee you votes. But it helps. Because of their historic fundraising success, the Obama campaign has been able to dictate the strategic landscape. That is, they have been able to simultaneously compete in more states than McCain, and they’ve been able to overwhelm the swing states with more local offices. That “shock and awe” effort has clearly put their competitor on his heels. How many times have marketing professionals started a campaign without the necessary funds to get the desired results? How many times has the marketing money run out before the campaign had a chance to get “legs?” Good marketing takes time and, as is often the case, time is money.

Strategic and Tactical

From the very beginning, the Obama campaign has been both strategic and tactical in its efforts. In fact, one could argue that this could be the Senator’s greatest strength – the ability to think one step ahead of the pack, while at the same time not losing site of the day-to-day activities that are required to get things done. The examples are numerous. Obama made a strategic decision early on to speak out against the Iraqi war, knowing full well he would be able to use that decision to differentiate himself from the competition in the primaries, especially Senator Clinton. At the same time, he and his staff have made numerous tactical decisions on how to organize local supporters, how to raise funds online, how to effectively compete in the swing states, how to deal with the potential financial meltdown, and many others. As marketers, we can all do a better job of doing both. We often get so bogged down in the day-to-day mechanics of running a marketing campaign that we forget to take the time to step back and really think about the direction we want to go.

Gene Pinder is the director of marketing for Centennial Campus, a high-tech research park at NC State University.

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