Politics aside, if you could take one lesson away from an election ballot paper, wouldn’t it be great if it was one that you could use to help your business? During most election campaigns, but particularly in the fraught battle of 2019, there is an abundance of marketing mistakes to avoid that you can pick up easily.

Let’s start with brand awareness

When it comes to crunchtime and you’re hunched over your ballot paper, what do you see? For me, it’s like being in the cereal aisle of a foreign supermarket where you recognise some of the products thanks to the pictures, but the names mean very little.

If you’re fairly settled and unbudgeable on who you’re going to vote for, what else it says on the ballot paper or however many other candidates are listed, will be largely irrelevant. But should any of what’s listed come as a complete surprise?

Theoretically, when you come to put your cross in your chosen box all of the candidates listed should be familiar to you. In a democracy where you have a choice, you want to make the right one for you. If you don’t know anything about any of the others, how can you possibly do that? I’m talking hypothetically, remember!

What has this got to do with your business?

Imagine your organisation, product or service were one of the candidates on the page or one of the cereals on the shelf. If you believe that you belong in the life of the person with the pencil and the ballot paper, but they’re not anywhere near your option something’s wrong.

Your message hasn’t reached them, resonated with them, driven them to choose you. You’re not talking to them effectively.

How to avoid being the unheard of

While still imagining you are one of the options on the ballot paper, put yourself in the shoes of your ideal, yet elusive, customer for a moment:

• How much did you know about the candidates?

• Did you even recognise their names?

• How much do you recall of their marketing?

• How much of their campaigning did you choose to ignore?

• Which of your questions and needs did they fail to address?

• How did they fail to grab your attention?

Then reflect on your own organisation's attempts to communicate with these elusive customers... Where are the gaps? What's missing from your approach?

5 marketing mistakes to avoid

1. Stop talking about you and how wonderful you are

2. Stop talking into a tunnel where nobody else hangs out

3. Stop being some cardboard or corporate cutout that people can’t relate to

4. Stop spouting internal jargon that means nothing to anyone outside of your organisation

5. Stop doing what you’ve always done yet failed to assess its effectiveness

5 easy ways to improve your brand communications

1. Define your target audience(s)

2. Qualify their challenges, needs, wants, questions that your organisation can solve

3. Determine what content they commonly consume, how, where and when

4. Show how you’ve helped others, solved challenges, added meaning and value to the lives of your customers or clients

5. Be clear and passionate about the benefits your organisation, brand or product delivers

See if you can flip what you're doing and bring that ideal and elusive customer your way. Give yourself the time to think. And if you need someone to drag you out of the box (kicking and screaming optional), drop us a line to chat through how our communications audit or a strategy workshop could help you see the wood for the trees and a happy rambling trail of customers heading your way.