Key Takeaways
* Marketers waste 26% of their total budget, and there are four common mistakes I see every day that explain these losses.
* These costly mistakes include measuring engagement instead of conversion or ROI, relying solely on digital ads, investing in a beautiful website that doesn’t convert and focusing too much on new leads while neglecting existing customers.
Do you ever wonder if your marketing dollars are truly paying off? No one wants to pour money into campaigns that go nowhere – especially when growth is on the line.
Unfortunately, the truth is sobering: One study found that marketers waste 26% of their total budget. That’s essentially $1 out of every $4 down the drain.
After nearly three decades of building a $119 million business, I’ve learned how to turn those losses into wins. Today,my company consistently generates 3,000-4,000 leads per week for ourselves,serving over 127,179 business owners and marketers across all industries and growth stages.
Here are the most common – and costly – marketing mistakes I see every day, along with how to fix them.
Related: How to Actually Get Returns in Your Marketing Efforts
1. Measuring engagement instead of conversion or (more importantly) ROI
It’s easy to get excited about big engagement numbers – impressions, likes, clicks – but those are vanity metrics. They may look extraordinary, but they don’t always translate to sales.
Think about it: Would you assume every influencer with 50,000 followers is wealthy? Probably not. The same principle applies to your marketing.The only metrics that matter are revenue and return on investment (ROI).
To find your true ROI,calculate the total revenue your campaign generated,subtract your total spend and divide the difference by your spend. A positive ROI means profit; a negative one means it’s time to adjust. Generally, 10%+ ROI is good and 30%+ is great.
If you aren’t already tracking where your revenue comes from, start promptly. Use:
* Unique links or promo codes tied to each campaign
* Conversion tracking pixels from Google or Meta
* Or simply ask
Turn Your Website Into a Sales Machine
You’ve likely put a lot of effort into making your website look great. But a beautiful design isn’t enough.It needs to actually sell something. Many designers focus on how things look, not on getting people to take action.
often, it’s up to you to make sure your website converts visitors into customers. People come to your site looking for facts, and it’s your job to guide them toward what you want them to do.
One way to do this is by testing diffrent versions of your pages against each other. This is called A/B testing. You compare version A to version B to see which one performs better. Try different layouts, buttons, or where you place forms, and then use the version that gets more people to convert.
Here are a few other things to make sure you have:
- Code on your site that shows follow-up ads to visitors after they leave (this is called retargeting).
- Simple lead capture forms (don’t ask for too much information) that are easy to find on important pages.
- Clear calls to action that tell visitors what to do next.
Don’t forget to retarget your website visitors – both online and offline.
People actually remember direct mail ads better than online ads.In fact, they’re 70% more likely to remember them. With direct mail retargeting, you can automatically send postcards to recent website visitors (even if you don’t know who they are) within 24-48 hours using a direct mail service.
Start by targeting people who spend at least 20 seconds on your site. And don’t send postcards to customers you already have – you’ll just waste money.