Picture this — an old high school friend sends you a Facebook friend request. You haven’t heard from her in about 10 years. You accept it. She sends you a DM with a personalized greeting, commenting on a recent post you published, talks a little bit about herself and then brings up her business or product. Ah! There it is. The entire reason for the connection – she’s trying to sell you something. This is not good marketing.

Why is this bad marketing?

Two things happened here. First, the person approached someone who is most likely not going to buy your product. This is because no interest or desire was formulated.

Cardinal rule #1: Know your audience and ask yourself questions. Who are your customers? Be specific. What’s their gender? age? income? interest? behavior? For example, just because you sell cosmetics, you can’t approach any and all women. You may be selling Mary Kay but Gen Z wants Kylie Jenner cosmetics.

The second reason why it’s bad marketing is because you look disingenuous. The minute you approach someone with a sales tactic disguised as a sincere wanting of connection and they know it, you create a tension and resistance. What do people do when they feel this? Create distance. They avoid you because they don’t want to hear your sales pitch.

Conclusion

Do your research. Find out what your customers look like and where you can connect with them. Think about how you make purchases and apply those concepts to your overall marketing strategy.

Need help creating a marketing strategy? Contact me.