For Internet Marketing, Patience Makes Perfect

Changing gears in marketing too quickly is the surest way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Here are the three biggest and most dangerous traps.

1. Giving Up on Email Marketing after Two Attempts

This is the grandaddy of all impatience-driven marketing errors. It takes a sustained effort over many months to establish interest in a business email blast. In addition, it takes many months to build a useful house list and test various approaches to getting readers to convert. By staying in the game, a firm not only creates effective newsletter campaigns, but also a great collection of qualified, opted-in prospects to market to in other ways.

2. Turning SEO Programs On and Off

When the coffers are full, companies feel good about spending on SEO. When purse strings tighten, SEO budgets are among the first to get squeezed. Unfortunately, high search engine visibility is another one of those pesky goals that requires a sustained effort. Turning SEO off and on sends Google mixed signals, allows competitors to catch up, and sometimes undoes previous work for which firms paid good money. There's no ROI in that!

3. Putting Quick ahead of Quality on a Website Launch

Rushing to launch a new site for the sake of an arbitrary deadline can be deadly for marketing. Crucial steps that frequently get skipped or glossed over: keyword research, content creation and conversion optimization. The result? A corporate site that nobody can find, nobody can understand, and nobody can use. This is not the result firms are looking for on a five- or six-figure spend.

What causes such reckless impatience?

No strategic plan

No strategic timeline

No milestones along the timeline

Unrealistic expectations

Vague expectations

No expectations

Using the wrong yardstick

Using no yardstick, going by "feel"

Knee jerk reactions to budgetary issues

Racing to the shiny new marketing object

Failing to see that testing and refining is the giant bridge between starting and stopping

If any of this sounds familiar, take a deep breath, relax, meditate, call a meeting, take a vacation ... do something to slow down and take stock. The future of your Internet marketing success depends on it!