Marketing is a complete waste of money. Even marketing pioneer John Wanamaker said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”
For many, this statement still holds true today.
Bad marketing gets ignored. It’s forgettable, untimely and untrackable.
Bad marketing leaves you looking back at your campaigns wondering why you aren’t seeing a spike in website traffic, phone calls and emails.
It leaves you wondering what went wrong and why.
Bad marketing makes you believe that “Marketing is a Waste of Money.”
It’s easy to point the finger and blame marketing for your lack of results and ROI, but in today’s digital landscape, the only finger-pointing being done should be with your thumb.
Today’s digital tools and resources ARE NOT a cure-all for bad marketing by any stretch… bad marketing will exist for as long as businesses have products and services to sell and people to buy them.
However, today’s digital tools and resources do answer Wanamaker’s dilemma… and by answering his dilemma we now stand on equal ground by knowing “which half” of our advertising spend is wasted. And if we know which half of our marketing dollars are wasted, we can STOP wasting them.
The Quest for Good Marketing
So, what is good marketing?
Let’s take a look at this article… Is this good marketing?
Truth be told, I don’t know yet. You are here reading it so I could argue it is.
But you could argue that my headline was written to get clicks. (I mean, a marketing company telling you marketing is a waste of money with an image of snake oil… kind of intriguing?)
Either way, you are here and arrived through either:
- Google Search
You were intrigued enough to click and are now reading. But…
Could I have gotten more clicks with a different image or headline… or a completely different article, audience or marketing channel? Could I get more conversions with a better offer?
I don’t know those answers now, but I soon will! And once I do, I will stop throwing good money away and kill the underperforming channels and tweak/test the variables until I know with certainty if this piece of content is good marketing or bad.
Today’s digital tools allow us to quickly, effortlessly and cost-effectively know:
- Which marketing channel used during a campaign drove the most traffic or calls
- Which headline, imagery, audience or CTA provided the most clicks
- How engaged a user was with your website, what pages they visited and how long they stayed on-site
The moral of the story is that marketing WILL ALWAYS BE A WASTE OF MONEY until you or your marketing partners leverage the technology needed to answer Wanamaker’s dilemma.
If you would like to learn how to answer Wanamaker’s dilemma for yourself, check out this article, “How to Create the PERFECT Digital Sales Funnel [And What to Avoid]” OR schedule a meeting to see how Adventure can help you stop wasting money on marketing. You can also give us a call at 815.431.1000.
