How to NOT Repeat Your Last Massive Marketing Failure

By Sean Work

On the KISSmetrics blog we talk a lot about marketing wins. And we should––we’re all about sharing tips and tricks, hacks and tactics so that we can learn from one another and help one another be awesome at what we do.

But no matter how much we study up on the latest developments in digital marketing, how much we A/B test and how many of the classic marketing texts we read, at one point or another we’re going to try something that just doesn’t work.

Recently, I launched a mini marketing campaign that was a pretty massive fail. It makes me cringe to write that here, but, well, it’s true. And when I saw the numbers I knew exactly why it was failing. I had neglected to do several key things any good digital marketer should swear by before launching a campaign.

So, after licking my wounds for a bit, I decided to write down the main lessons I learned from my failed campaign so that I don’t make the same mistakes twice. And I want to share them with you so that as you try new things, push yourself to be a better marketer and at the same time tackle daily stresses and distractions, you can be sure not to make them, either.

1. Think hard about whether your campaign will appeal to your audience

Don’t let yourself or your team get swept away by what seems to be a really great, cool idea. You know what I mean: you’re all sitting around a table bouncing ideas off one another, and then someone proposes something that sounds totally cool, and everyone says, “Yeah! Let’s do that”, and they get to work.

Maybe that idea is truly totally cool and will bring great results. But before diving in take a moment to think hard about whether …read more