Apple, Nike and The Three Biggest Mistakes Most Marketing Directors Make

By my estimate, about 60% of all marketing campaigns are snoozers. A snoozer is a campaign that is so boring, so uninteresting and so lame that it slips by unnoticed by 99.99999% of the people it reaches.

A great campaign will typically do three things:

1. It'll make you stop and listen;
2. It'll make you interested in a product or service;
3. It'll make you desire what's for sale.

Who hasn't been affected by a campaign that accomplishes these three things? Have you seen the new iPhone commercials? If so, you're probably itching to get your hands on one, even if you don't really need an iPhone.

And who hasn't watched a Nike commercial and thought, "Wow! Running looks fun! Who knew?" It's part of what makes Nike one of the most successful companies of our generation.

As a marketing person, it's your job to understand what makes a great campaign. But it's just as important to understand what makes a bad campaign.

There are three big mistakes many marketers make, resulting in wasted money and, worse yet, lost revenue. Here are the three big mistakes:

1. Not getting inside the mind of your customer: All great campaigns get their start when a marketing person has an intimate sense of what motivates the customer prospect. What are their needs, desires, interests and dreams? Just as importantly, what are their fears, pains, insecurities and wounds? When you understand these, you have the foundation of a successful marketing program.
2. Assuming your customer is as interested in your product as you are: Do you know why great ad campaigns work? Because they break through the clutter. Despite the fact that "break through the clutter" is an over-used term, it's true -- the average person sees between 5,000 and 20,000 messages a day (depending on which research you believe). No matter what the figure, it's your job to be one of the two or three messages that a consumer remembers on any given day. That happens when you spark some emotion in the mind of your prospect: fear, love, happiness, joy, saddness, longing, euphoria, etc.
   
3. Not creating a dialogue with your customer: The days of running a commercial on network television and reaching 80% of your target audience with a one-way piece of communication are over. Today, you need to open up a dialogue with your prospect so that they can talk to you when they want to and how they want to. Think email marketing, blogging, YouTube marketing, article marketing, Twitter, LinkedIn and a whole slew of other new and emerging marketing tools.

The reason most marketing campaigns are snoozers is because most marketing directors don't know the top 3 mistakes many marketers make. By keeping an eye on these issues, you can give your campaign every chance it needs at succeeding. There are no guarantees, but you'll be ahead of the vast majority of marketing directors out there.