Lisa Greensill, a marketing advisor and co-founder of Brandover with nearly 20 years of experience in financial services marketing, explained that one of the biggest mistakes consultancies make is going into marketing without a plan and trying to appeal to everyone.
In an interview with ifa, Greensill emphasised the importance of approaching marketing with a clear goal in mind and specifically targeting your ideal customer.
Unfortunately, she says, many companies take a “broad” approach to digital marketing and end up “talking to everyone, but that means talking to no one.”
“The measure of successful marketing is whether your ideal customer looks at your website, post, email or whatever and thinks, 'Wow, it's like you read my mind,' so we want our ideal customer to think, 'You understand me, this is the perfect fit for you,'” she said.
Greensill recommends taking a step back to “see your business through your client's eyes” and “digging through their profile” to understand their needs and know where to focus your marketing efforts.
“What are their issues? What keeps them up at night? What are their motivations? Where are they located? What social media platforms are they on? What are the centres of influence that influence their decisions?” she said.
“Let's make what we say really mean something to them.”
Another common mistake companies make, according to Greensill, is engaging in “random marketing stunts” or using a “spray and pray” approach – acting without a plan, being online sporadically and simply jumping on other companies' trends.
This approach often leaves people frustrated, she says, because it minimizes the return on the time and resources they invest, especially since there's often a lack of planning or vision, making it difficult to track progress and return on investment (ROI).
Furthermore, she explained that many companies get “so caught up in the technical stuff” that they often inadvertently ignore “the reasons why people make financial decisions — the behavioral and emotional reasons.”
When communicating with potential or existing customers, it is important to be careful with your language because some people can become “overly knowledgeable and overly technical,” which can alienate potential customers.
Ultimately, Greensill said, a clear indicator of successful marketing is “a high rate of leads converting into customers.”
She explained that effective marketing is “gaining, retaining and increasing customers” and that “the ideal marketing is when you don't actually have to do any marketing, people just tell other people about you.”
