The Problem With Good Marketing Campaigns

Alexander The Good

The Good Wall of China. The Good British Bake Off. 

I mean, good still works, right? Alexander did achieve a lot. 13,170 miles is impressive, for a wall. And who doesn’t enjoy settling down on the sofa for a bit of Bake Off?

But Alexander the Great built one of the largest empires in history by the time he was 30, he never lost a battle, and he’s widely considered to be one of the most successful military commanders ever. 

The Great Wall of China, longer than the distance between the North and South Pole, is the most incredible feat of man-made labor. 

And The Great British Bake Off? Well, watching the top layer of a cake that’s taken 4 hours to create wobble off its marzipan supports and onto the floor is just GREAT telly.

See, good is…well, good. But great is better.

What Great Looks Like

Think of a marketing or ad campaign that really stuck with you recently. What made it, not just good, but great?

Let’s take a look at a few examples:

How about this one from Spotify?

Why do you think this ad is so effective? The funky colors? The trendy font? Of course, these are important.

But not as important as the message itself. 

Spotify has worked tirelessly to identify its target audience and build ads that speak to them in their language. 

To people who don’t use Spotify, don’t know what it is, or those outside of the Millennial/Gen-Z generations, it won’t mean much.

But that’s not who they’re targeting. So why waste time, money, and resources trying?

Or how about this, from Harley-Davidson, back in the day?

It’s great because it talks to motorbike users and those contemplating one. 

Like Spotify and plenty of other switched-on brands, Harley Davidson spent time identifying their audience then built an ad campaign to target them. 

There are plenty of ‘good’ ads, and they might do their job for a while, but in a world where we’re exposed to countless thousands a day, they’re soon forgotten. 

These two ads are great examples of specificity. It’s what turns a good ad into a great one. It’s why they stick in the memory compared to the dross you see every day, and it’s why they stand the tests of time.

What does this mean for you?

Andy, Our Marketing Strategy Is Stuck To Your Shoe

The same might be said about the ad campaigns you’re running across various platforms and, crucially, what you’re doing with the insights they’re giving you.

Your numbers might look good on paper, allowing you to compile some information about what your ideal consumer looks like. 

But there are some important details that could take a campaign from good to great, which are often overlooked. Or noted down on the ‘things we could do better next time’ post-it note that ends up stuck to the bottom of Andy from HR’s shoe by the end of the week.

One such detail is not taking the time to look at the quality of the data you’re using to target your users. 

Can you imagine Spotify building ads on data that are not as accurate as they could be? Targeting Anne, 74, a retiree from Devon that doesn’t own a mobile phone? 

Or Harley Davidson making an ad for a 15-year-old YouTuber without a driving license?

What sets these big brands apart is their proactivity. They don’t assume that all their traffic is genuine – they check. Because 99% of the time, there’s something untoward going on which stops them from fully understanding their target audience.

Take Uber, for example, who discovered they were losing $150m of their ad budget to ad fraud. Not only is this a catastrophic loss, but all that invalid traffic will have wreaked havoc in their data streams and caused their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) to be miles away from the truth. 

The result is that their marketing campaigns will be less personalized and less effective. 

Lean Clean Marketing Machine

Not only is cleaner data great for your business, it’s also great for consumer satisfaction. How so?

According to a report from SmarterHQ, “79% of consumers surveyed believe companies know too much about them, yet 90% are willing to share behavioral data for a cheaper and easier brand experience.”

People don’t want to have generic advertising messages blasted their way 24/7. They appreciate and expect personalized communication.

The report also mentioned that “72% of consumers will only engage with marketing messages that are tailored to their interests,” while, it continues, “78% of U.S. internet users say that personally relevant content from brands increases their purchase activity”.

Customers clearly have a preference for brands that listen to them. Brands that understand them. And brands that are paying attention to their needs and desires. 

Creating such personalized marketing can only come from good-quality, clean data.