3 Questions to Ask Before Jumping on a Marketing Bandwagon

It’s tough not to fall victim to me-tooism in our competitive media landscape.

There are oohs and ahhs to reap, awards to win, client and board expectations to exceed and egos to stroke. So we see something shiny and we chase it. We see a toy and call it a tool, and make it part of our marketing program.

And who can blame us? We’ve got boss/client/coworker/thought-leader/consultant/blogger/friend/avatar telling us we need to embrace (whatever piece of) technology before it’s too late. 

But what if it’s too soon? What if there’s never a good time to adopt? What if we’re adopting a technology or approach that could fundamentally shift the relationship we have with our audience in a detrimental way?

If it seems like I’m exagerrating the issue, take a look at this recent data from Pitney Bowes:

In a survey, Pitney Bowes asked small business owners for the reasoning behind marketing tactics they employed. The results?

• 30% of small businesses are using social media because their competitors are
• 29% are using QR codes for this same reason
• And 25% are doing mobile marketing because the competition is using mobile marketing

Sure, these might be signs that small businesses are in touch with the competitive landscape and they’re doing their part to stay afloat. It could also mean that these tactics are right for them and they’re ahead of the game.

But it could also mean that they were employing the strategy just because they thought “everyone else” seemed to.

To those that subscribe to the “because my competitors are doing it” logic, I present to you these questions to ask before you make your lemming leap:

1. Is my audience actually using this service or technology?

There’s no prize for beating your audience to the future.

2. Am I replacing something old and tired but incredibly useful?

If your audience digs your print magazine, you’ll ruffle a lot of feathers teling them to download their next issue with no warning.

3. Have I asked my audience what they think of this?

The amount of information available to you is incredible when you’re just willing to ask.

It’s tempting to jump on to a bandwagon (or off a bridge) just because it seems like everyone else is. But you could be headed for a fall.

This post was written by Andrew Hanelly and originally published on SocialMediaExplorer.com.

[Image: ell brown]