Common sense in marketing can lack common sense

It is mind-boggling how common sense can be sold, and oversold. And depending on who delivers the message, the weight of common sense varies from "Oh, that's B.S.," to "WOW, that was such amazing advice."

The reaction is binary.

This reminds me of my old job. Someone on my team provided a recommendation to test landing pages. That fell on deaf ears. And one VP even said that was a waste of time and money.

Then, an agency reached out with a proposal to improve our landing pages. And the next thing I know, a contract was signed with the agency to work on our landing pages.

WTF!!! Sorry, pardon my acronym.

I'm sure we've all been there. The weight of our recommendation is light as a feather; whereas the same common sense recommendation from an external perceived expert holds its weight in gold.

But you can't deny that either way you slice it, there's no reason to pay for the obvious.

The obvious stuff that should be, well, obvious

These get asks all the time. And it gets the same answers all the time. Shouldn't we already know these? There are enough articles, videos, podcasts, and eBooks about them.

1. If you hustle hard and don't give up, you will achieve good results. I was under the impression that marketing automation tools was created so I can sit back and relax while my business generates sales automatically 24/7/365. I guess not.

2. If customers align with your brand, they are more likely to buy from you. OK! Which genius told you that?

3. Listen to your customers' feedback to understand their pain points. This one hurt (pun intended). Next time when you complain, I hope the business doesn't listen to your pain points!

4. Millennials are engaging with your brand in new ways, you need to adapt. I have to say. I catch myself telling clients this and I feel so dumb. Do you think this generation is still sitting around and waiting for mailers and pennysaver coupons?

5. The right social platform is where your audience is at. No kidding. You don't need a marketing expert or guru to tell you what your right social platform is. Look at where you are getting the most engagement -- that's the social platform for you to double-down on.

6. Your Facebook Ads isn't performing because it's not relevant. Another OMG really? If you are selling dog food, and you're not targeting dog-lovers, then you shouldn't expect any significant results.

7. I signed up for online course but not seeing results in my business. That's like saying you attended a Tony Robbins seminar, but can't buy a private jet. Common now. Signing up for any course is a good first step, albeit, useless if you don't put it into practice. Duh!?!?

8. The only that matter is result. No way! So many of us would love to throw money away without getting anything in return. I love it when vendors tell me they are focused on delivering results. Perhaps they would deliver steak and potatoes as well?

9. Target the right audience to increase conversions and sales. If you need anyone to tell you this, then maybe you shouldn't be marketing at all. "Let's target the wrong audience," nobody ever said.

10. You need to track your conversions. Why don't you just spend blindly on your marketing? It's tickles me every time I hear this. Of course you need to track your leads and sales. How else do you know if your marketing is working or not.

11. Create content that is relevant to your readers. I've always thought about creating random content for random people. Unless you live on a different planet or a parallel universe, it's obvious what content you should create.

12. Use the best Call-to-Action. Umm...yea. I'm speechless on this one.

13. Use data to drive action. Since the beginning of marketing, data has been used in its various form. Guessing is just poor judgement. If you can run any business without using data, you are either enlightened or a demi-god. Chances are, you are neither. So for Pete's sake (not sure who Pete is), use data!!!

What are some obvious common sense marketing you can share?