Beware these common Marketing mistakes

Hyperion Marketing Returns has identified a pattern of what we’ll call “marketing pitfalls” – traps into which even savvy marketers fall.

The first of these is the attempt to directly attribute sales. This goal is ineffective unless the product is actually available for purchase at the point of messaging.  In any other approach, what statisticians call “noise in the process” overwhelms the cause-effect relationship.

Here are some other pitfalls:

·      Pursuing “Opportunities” instead of Business Goals.  Normally rational business people can be lured into “opportunities.” Business goals are then redefined to fit the opportunities.

·      The Lag Time Problem.  Impact only becomes evident after the campaign is over. 

There is a means of subjecting marketing to a rational process that measures its performance against real business goals.  This method is based on the principles of the management tool known as Six Sigma.