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5 Reasons Your Print Campaigns are Failing Miserably

By Jenna Bruce on Tue, Nov 22, 2016 @ 02:44 PM |

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Let’s start off by discussing a harsh reality: most print campaigns fail miserably; not because print is dead – it is very much alive – but because marketers often make the same old mistakes that lead to wasted spend and little to no ROI.

If your print campaigns are not bringing in customers, chances are you’re making one or more of the following mistakes.

Here are 5 reasons your print campaigns are failing miserably:

Reason 1: You're Not Targeting Your AudienceReason 1: You’re Not Targeting Your Audience

No matter how big, colorful, or clever your ads are, if you’re not targeting the right people, you won’t get a response. Why spend more to get your ad placed in the local news section, when your audience tosses that section aside and goes straight for the sports section? The more refined your strategy is, and by that I mean it focuses dollars on people who are actually qualified to purchase from you, the less you’ll have to spend and the more return you’ll see.

When targeting prospects, think beyond gender, age and geography and drill down into their interests, hobbies, education level and income.

Reason 2: You Crafted the Wrong Message for Your Audience

What’s the point of targeting the right people if you are going to deliver the wrong message? Once you know exactly who is your most likely prospect and why your offer solves their problem, be sure to craft a message that clearly articulates your value. When brainstorming the creative, always keep your customer persona in mind and craft a message that speaks to their needs and wants.

Reason 3: Your Ads Persuade No One

One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is to focus on creating ads that inform the reader. Why is this bad? Because informing is not the same thing as persuading. How do you persuade the reader? By sharing benefits not features. The features of your product or service are information; information no one cares about but you. Who cares if your widget is made from alloy? Your prospect just wants to know that your widgets will never rust.

So, telling them about the allow is information that will not get them to take action. But telling them your widgets can be left outside in the harshest weather for 20 years and will NEVER rust will persuade them to hand over their cash.

Reason 4: You Didn’t Include a Call-to-Action

And speaking of being persuasive, nothing is more persuasive than telling the reader exactly what to do. Don’t spend time targeting the right people and crafting the perfect message that clearly outlines benefits if you’re not going to ask for the sale. Tell the reader exactly what you want them to do: visit your website, bring in a coupon, call your sales rep, or like you on Facebook.

Reason 5: You Never Defined Realistic MetricsReason 5: You NEver Defined Realistic Metrics

While the end goal for any business is to earn revenue, there are steps that must be taken to get to your final destination such as brand recognition, improved consumer interaction, or an increased social following. Unless you select success metrics carefully before you launch, you may think your campaign failed miserably when it didn’t.

For instance, your print campaign may have driven a ton of new traffic to your website. The fact that not as many visitors converted may have more to do with not targeting the right people or promoting a landing page that has yet to be optimized. Be sure to fully recognize your campaign’s goals (HINT: your call-to-action should ask readers to do what your ultimate goal is) and carefully define your success metrics so you will realistically know whether your campaign failed or worked in a way you weren’t intending.

There’s no reason you shouldn’t hit a homerun every time one of your campaigns steps up to bat. Take a realistic look at your past few campaigns to see if you’ve been making these common mistakes. If so, make some adjustments and see if your ROI doesn’t increase exponentially.

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