Learning from Marketing Mistakes

VO: Get ready for your semi-regular dose of random ideas from the guys at Codelation. We like to talk about big ideas companies that are winning, and those that aren't along with current events in our crazy world of software startups. So come along with Erick and Josh, who challenge you to think big, start small and turn your ideas into something on this episode of, from idea to done.

Josh: Welcome to another episode of idea to done. Hi, I'm Josh

Erick: And I'm Erick and today's idea is small business marketing ideas and making mistakes. And last time we ended on how important it is to learn from marketing mistakes. You just have to go and make mistakes. It helps you find your customer. I, I like, I like to post content on Facebook. You like to post stuff on LinkedIn, which one of these is right while the sales is going to determine that. But we won't know, unless we try both marketing's fails. They happen all the time. I'm Meow mix. The iconic jingle had to go through all sorts of ad-advertising before it started the, [Erick meows repeatedly] and something will stick, but you just have to not be afraid to fail.

Josh: Wait, so you're referencing the cat food jingle from the nineties, right? Yeah.

Erick: Yes. I'm 35. And I remember a cat food jingle from 25 years ago.

Josh: I think a lot of people try something with marketing. They try to do a social media push or write blog content or something. And they say, gosh, that didn't work. And they write it off. As, as that mistake, you know, it ultimately, if they give up at that point, it is a mistake, but truly it can be a learning process because it's not that easy to spin up a campaign hit success. Um, I think the, the mistake there is that you didn't have an expected outcome and steps for how you end up there. You kind of just fall into it. If you think that you're going to go on to Facebook, to an audience that's completely cold, they don't know who you are. Don't know what your businesses, what your product is. You're not going to sell anything no matter how good your creative is, how good your call to action is you need to warm them up. You need to show them about your brand, about your company and, and not trying to push the sale. It's like getting married on the first date. It just doesn't usually work out that well.

Erick: Well, for the most part, it says a single person that doesn't work out at all for me. So I'm still working on my brand. We're doing some, some marketing mistakes in myself. And I think, um, finding the right place to share your brand and message is it's the challenge. Your product might make more sense on Instagram. I know a florist, who's all over Instagram and I rarely see her stuff on Facebook. The audience just isn't quite there. And at the other end of the spectrum, my financial planner post things on LinkedIn, because if it's not cat videos or something entertaining, I just don't want it on my Facebook feed. And so finding a platform that makes sense for you is, is about trial and error.

Josh: Yeah. I think having the right platform for your audiences is absolutely right. The thing I challenged with that though, is that her audience is on Facebook. They just don't interact the same way as they do on Instagram or different platforms. You need to be able to shift your message for the platform. You know, I recently just had some issues with my vehicle and I replaced, replaced the water pump on it. I watched a seven minute video on YouTube about, you know, all the things I needed to do to pull the water pump out. I wouldn't have done the same thing on Facebook or Instagram. You need to make sure that message is dialed in for the platform and help people consume that content. And

Erick: So, yeah, there you have it. I mean, the marketing I needed for small business today is I just run through on a stress how you should be learning from your marketing mistakes.

Speaker 4: So thanks for listening. If you know a startup that could use actual advice, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes.