In the marketing world, we often see clients make the same mistakes over and over again. One of the most common is the quick jump to tactics – the fun stuff – before the real, deep-dive strategy work is done.

And I get it. Tactics are exciting and finding solutions is satisfying. But to build a marketing campaign that nails it, you need to look at the whole board first to make the best strategic decisions. That means deep audience research, nailing your positioning, and setting smart goals before you decide on the tactical execution. In this short article we’re going to explore six common marketing mistakes that I’ve seen in my time working in creative problem solving and marketing. Some of them might be common sense to you, others might be new. Either way, I hope you find something to help you improve your skills and work for the good.

1. Understand the problem before jumping to a solution

When you’ve been experiencing an issue for a while, it’s easy (especially if you’re in a rush) to jump into tactics to solve the problem before you’ve done the hard work of diagnosing it. But that would be a mistake. Before finding a solution, it is vital to understand and diagnose the specific problem at hand, otherwise you might pick the wrong solution and waste your time and your budget. (Check out how Cadence did this with our own website last year).

But how do you do this hard diagnostic work? We’d recommend pulling your team together, looking at the problem at hand and asking some deep, probing questions about your target audience, your business landscape, and your campaign process. Consider engaging Cadence to help you and your team problem solve and come up with creative solutions to the barriers you’re facing. There are solutions to the issues you’re having and often we need to pause before jumping in a new email campaign or digital ad strategy. 

2. Always start with your audience

If you don’t know who you are targeting, your tactics won’t work and your campaign will struggle. We see this common mistake all the time. Marketers just don’t know enough about their audience to make strategic decisions about them. 

Here are some things to think about:

• Who out of your potential audience are you targeting?
• What is known about them? What can you find out?
• Why would they be interested in your cause?
• Bonus question: Does your current audience align with who you think your audience is?

3. Let data be your “source of truth”

A strategy without data is just a guess, so a data-informed strategy is non-negotiable. Data provides the factual foundation for any strategy built around an audience. Key sources for this treasure trove of facts include:

• Donor information and segments.
• Qualitative and quantitative research.
• Past campaign reviews and CRM or Meta reports.

4. Set simple and disciplined goals

Another common mistake I’ve seen is trying to do too many things in one campaign. The best campaigns have simple, effective goals. This might feel like you’re taking the easy way out but it’s actually the opposite. Setting simple goals requires you to make hard choices between what you will aim for and what you’ll leave on the table for now. Effective goals should be:

• Specific and clear: Make your goals unambiguous, such as increasing newsletter signups by 20.
• Measurable and time bound: Your goal should be tied to metrics eg. clicks, conversions and set against a firm deadline.
• Aligned and actionable: Goals must support the broader mission and directly inform your content and messaging.

5. Establish a realistic budget early

Knowing the budget early is critical for strategy because it allows you to identify the best options for that specific amount. It is important to distinguish between the budget for agency work and the budget for actual campaign execution. While budgets are often tight, a realistic ad spend is necessary for a campaign to succeed. (A really good brief also never goes amiss).

6. Commit to the “Wrap Meeting”

We get it. The last thing you want to do after a campaign is go over it with a fine toothed comb. But trust us when we say that we’ve found it to be one of the most rewarding steps for our clients. They’ve reflected on their decisions, felt proud of what they’ve achieved, and got excited about what’s possible for the next campaign.

Wrap meetings allow teams to:

• Learn and justify: Use data to justify decisions for the next campaign.
• Analyse mistakes: Mistakes are always going to happen. Calling them out and learning from them is essential for growth and understanding.
• Focus on growth: The goal is to be encouraged by what we’ve achieved but also to take the key lessons through to the next project.