Have a scary costume, not scary marketing 👻

October is my favorite month by far. I wish my birthday was in October, to make the month that much more magical. I’m even getting married in October 2020! I love scary movies, sweaters, bonfires, leaf color changes, candy, hayrides, the decorations, the weather, costumes, “scary” attractions — everything.

But don’t get too distracted! You should be rockin’ and rollin’ getting ready for tradeshows, the end of the year, and 2020 marketing programs. This is not the time for your marketing to be scary.

Here’s a list of scream-worthy things we see companies do with their marketing, and suggestions on how to avoid them so you have a happy ending.

🎃 Not having a social media presence is like the girl who falls when being chased by the killer – what happens is predictable and fatal. No social media presence means one of two things: you don’t have social media at all, or you don’t post. Both are creepy. If you don’t have social media at all, start creating accounts on the platforms that are relevant to your audience. If you already have accounts, start creating a strategy and cadence around posting consistently. Don’t ghost your followers.

🎃 Preparing for a tradeshow too late in the game. Here’s our guide to help you prepare for HIMSS, which can be adapted to other big events as well. If you’re a HIMSS exhibitor this March, our countdown will help.

🎃 Starting 2020 budget prep in December. It can already be challenging to get a green light on the marketing budget you really need, but the odds are against you if you wait until the last minute to ask for it. Strategically plan ahead to know what marketing initiatives you want to execute in the following year, and the investment that it is going to take.

🎃 Not spending enough money on marketing. You can’t expect to  win an Oscar with a B film budget. The average company spends 12% of its annual revenue on marketing. Below are marketing budgets by industry as reported by a Forbes poll of CMOs. You should be spending this much on your marketing if you want to see successful results!

Need help with budgeting?  Check out our white paper, “Five ways to set an optimal B2B marketing budget.”

🎃 Doing things the same way because that’s how you’ve always done them. If Nancy acted the way her friends did in A Nightmare on Elm Street, then she would’ve died too. She had to do something creative and unique to save herself.

Your marketing won’t save itself, so do something about it. Staying fresh and relevant sometimes requires trying new techniques or spicing up old ones.

What’s killing your marketing?

We can define what’s keeping you from the results you want and set up a plan to get you there.