Is Your Marketing Annoying People?

As consumers, we are annoyed by marketing and pushy sales tactics: We stop reading magazines with more adverts than content, install an ad blocker on our computers and only answer the phone if we are sure it’s not just another automated sales call convincing us to get a “brand-new boiler”.

But as small business owners, we know how important it is to make people aware of our products and services. Marketing is vital to the success and survival of our company! So how do we consolidate these two worlds?

Take A Sanity Check

I have already written about the importance of being yourself when it comes to your business and marketing, but there is one more thing we have to be aware of when we want to avoid annoying the hell out of our target audience: We have to take our blinkers off and take a sanity check.

Before starting a new marketing campaign for your small business, ask yourself what you would do if you were at the receiving end. Would you read this unsolicited email or direct mail? What would you say if you got a phone call like that? Would you notice the advert or advertorial while browsing through your newspaper?

The same goes for your expectation: Is it realistic to think that you get enough response on your campaign to make it worth your while? If you usually throw away leaflet drops that land in your letter box or ignore Google Ads when searching for something on the internet, why would anyone else react differently to your campaign?

Use Your Insight

The good thing about being both a consumer and a marketer is that we can turn this sometimes tricky situation into our advantage: We have enough experience in B2B (business to business) as well as B2C (business to consumer) marketing to find our way out of this conundrum!

So next time you are about to throw away a leaflet or direct mail, check it out and see what you don’t like about it. Why do you think it’s not worth your time to open and read it? And how you can do it better when promoting your own company?

The same goes for offers, wording, design and placement: When being annoyed by marketing either in your free time or as a business owner, take a minute to have a closer look and learn from other people’s mistakes.

It also works the other way around: If you see something that catches your eye, a campaign that surprises you and gets your attention, make sure to keep it or take a photo of it. This is the perfect inspiration when brainstorming your next marketing campaign.

Don’t Be Annoying

So in future, try to avoid thinking just as a consumer or small business owner. Don’t dismiss SEO (search engine optimisation) as a means to grow your business right away when you yourself keep looking for ideas, suppliers and help through Google and other search engines. Your own behaviour as a potential customer or client so someone is a great source of information for your own marketing.

It all comes down to this: In marketing (as well as in life) do as you would be done by. Your target audience will thank you for this.

Further Reading

If you are interested in reading more about this topic, have a look at these:
13 Easy Ways to Sabotage Your Marketing
10 Basic Mistakes that can Sabotage Your Marketing
Want to Stand Out with Your Small Business? Be Yourself!
Be A Stranger – Branding for Small Businesses

Denise Strohsahl is the owner and founder of Edinburgh-based marketing consultancy sandstonecastles. She specialises in helping small businesses make the best of their size and their marketing. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or connect with her here on LinkedIn. You can find her own blog at www.sandstonecastles.co.uk/blog/.