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Examining The Demoralizing Reality of a Marketing Campaign Losing Steam

A common reaction to any sort of slowdown is to throw money at the problem. Yet, it often doesn't work and can make you feel much worse.


After spending hours, days, weeks and years to create a workable solution, you finally see some positive results for your efforts. You allow yourself to start dreaming and considering that perhaps this is the time, and the moment where your business skyrockets towards success. Then, after some time, the marketing campaign loses traction, engagement is down, sales are low, and at best you feel deflated, at worst you feel like quitting.

Perhaps you can relate?

 

When throwing money at the problem makes you feel worse

A common reaction to any sort of slowdown is to throw money at the problem. When marketing campaigns start to lose momentum, you often see hasty founders and marketers pour money into it with the hopes of rekindling the fire. Yet, not only does this thin out profit margins, it often doesn’t work and can make you feel much worse.

Some may say you should examine why your campaign has lost momentum and try to plug the leaks. However, is it possible you have embraced a hamster wheel mentality? Were you pushing what worked for so long that you failed to see how the market changed, consumer needs evolved, and simply lost all passion for it in the first place?

One of the best things you can do is to maintain your marketing and sales process as before (and in a slump), is to work on a fresh and new approach for your next campaign. Sometimes, it is less about the campaign itself and more about your enthusiasm for it. Coming to grips with a new approach may help you craft a campaign that is a little more unique, and help you understand why your previous campaign fell flat.

 

The guy who said ‘go on vacation’

The concept of downtime, rough patches, slowdowns, and depressions are a hot topic in the business community. It is something we all have in common. We have all been through the rough patches, hard spots, and times we considered quitting.

Yet, there is always that one guy or girl at a networking event who says “I go on vacation whenever there is downtime or a slowdown.” When most people work even harder during the rough periods, there are those who take time off, and perhaps they have the right attitude.

Just because things have slowed, it doesn’t mean your business is going down the toilet. It is unreasonable to expect highs (and lows) to last all year. Most industries have their highs and lows, and so it makes sense that instead of panicking and working harder, you simply take a break or slow down to regroup and rethink next steps.

 

When you are the problem

At the beginning of this article, I put forth the idea that a hamster-wheel mentality about marketing can cause campaigns to lose steam. Though there are hundreds of reasons why your campaign could have lost momentum, from changes in the market to competitor push back, the problem in reality could be you.

There are plenty of examples of people who became weary of the sales process and started treating it as a rote pre-rehearsed production. Then, along comes the eager new salesperson who dominates through sheer force of will.

Is it possible that the grind of keeping your marketing campaign going has worn you down? Has the grind dulled you and your team’s motivation? Are you failing to attack the problem with the vigor it deserves?

In these scenarios, the best way to pull yourself out of a slump is with a bit of re-education. Start learning about new marketing methods, new business methods, new promotional ideas, and marketing systems and processes that you have not yet attempted.

It is time to re-invest in learning about your own business too. Encourage your team to take courses to teach them about new financial technology, listen to audiobooks and podcasts, and consider marketing tools that rely on the latest technologies such as AI and machine learning.

Not only does a re-education help you and your team work smarter, it also makes everyone more creative.

 

Is a slow down all my fault?

A few times, here and there, I’ve suggested the reason your marketing campaign has slowed down is because of you. While this cannot be ruled out, many times marketing campaigns run their course.

It can be demoralizing to see all of your hard work grind to a halt, but in many cases, this is how the business works. It is why blue chip companies rebrand over time, and why even the best advertisements in the world are not running ten years later.

Rather than being crushed because your campaign results have stagnated, try to be thankful and reverent of the fact that your campaign did so well in the first place. In business, you have likely launched plenty of campaigns that fizzled into nothing, and yet this one achieved more than you could have hoped.

Take comfort in that fact, be grateful, and remember that if you did it once, you can do it again. Roll up your sleeves, create something new and fresh, and drive your business forward.

 

Craig Lebrau is the CMO of Media Insider, a Wyoming-based PR company that aims to disrupt the way companies communicate their brand in the digital era.

 

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