AMiable Solution #195: Oops…

Some mistakes can’t be avoided.  Others, however, are entirely avoidable, and odds are, you’ve found yourself looking at a distributed flyer, brochure, letter, catalog, or postcard at one point or another and thought, “Oh, nuts.  This didn’t have to happen.”

A previous mentor of mine once told me, after I confessed to discovering a stupid mistake I’d made in a brochure after it was printed, “In the big scheme of things, this isn’t a big deal.” 

That was a pretty kind response.  Your superiors may not be so accepting of mistakes: make too many, and you’re out.  

More importantly, your market may not respond so forgivingly.  Your mistakes may discredit your reputation.  Create financial ramifications for your company.  Make you look like bumbling fools.

We can avoid making embarrassing and detrimental mistakes if we understand three of the most common reasons we make them:

1.      Rushing.  Whether we hurry through each campaign because we just don’t have much notice or because we’re too busy trying to juggle too many projects at once, we often find ourselves rushing through a campaign.  And it often creates mistakes.  We overlook or fail to confirm details, we miscommunicate key information, we make errors, and we shorten the review process or skip it altogether.  When this happens, we make or miss mistakes that could be caught and corrected

2.      Poor planning.  Each and every one of your campaigns has a purpose, a goal.  If you’re not sure what it is, you can’t write and design your campaign clearly, and it won’t generate the response or results you’re looking for.  Dan McDade, in his November 20, 2012, DM News article, “The Top 10 Mistakes Marketers Make,” says that most marketers start with faulty assumptions and waste a lot of money.  You need to know if your goal is to generate leads, build your brand, etc., before you craft your campaign

3.      Asking for too much.  This one ties back to “poor planning.”  You need to know your goal for each campaign, and then you need to clearly communicate that goal to your audience.  If you want members to renew, focus on the benefits of membership.  If you want to invite clients to register for a course, focus on the course.  Don't overwhelm your audience with unrelated information and ask your prospects to do too much.  They may get confused, lost in the sea of offers you’re floating by them, and not do anything at all

Are mistakes 100% avoidable?  Unfortunately not.  We are humans, after all.  But if we take our time, focus on one goal at a time, and make it clear to our markets what we’re offering them, we can improve our marketing products and our results.