In today’s episode, we’ll be diving into a topic that many business owners struggle with: optimizing and improving something that is not converting.

I’m unpacking three common mistakes that people make in this situation and providing practical strategies to overcome them. From using data to make informed decisions rather than relying on emotions or fear of failure, to identifying the metrics that matter most to your marketing efforts, we’ll cover it all.

If you’re tired of feeling frustrated when your marketing doesn’t go as planned, this episode is for you. Tune in now to gain valuable insights and discover how to turn your underperforming campaigns into success stories. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to optimize your marketing strategy and achieve the results you’ve been dreaming of. 

Key Points:

• Using Data to Drive Decision-Making

• Don’t base decisions on emotion and fear; use data to guide your choices.
• Analyze metrics, such as engagement, followers, and content consumption, to identify areas for improvement.
• Address lead generation issues before focusing on sales, as you audience and leads directly impact your sales.
  

• Understanding the Metrics at Each Level

• Different levels of marketing, including content, lead generation, and sales, should be evaluated independently and as interconnected components.
• Consider factors like cost per lead and landing page conversion to optimize lead generation efforts.
• Recognize that insufficient leads can hinder sales, so prioritize solving traffic problems if volume is low.
  

• Being Intentional and Strategic with Optimization

• Accept that marketing rarely works perfectly from the start; it requires continuous adjustments and optimization.
• Approach data analysis with intention and strategic thinking to make informed decisions.
• By being proactive and strategic with optimization, marketing efforts become clearer and less overwhelming.
  

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READ THE EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Emily Hirsh

Hello, you guys. Happy Thursday. If you’re tuning in live and day four of our series, top marketing mistakes. I’ve really enjoyed this one. I was very intentional about the content of this one. And at first I struggled with what I wanted to do and almost wasn’t going to do a series. And then I followed my process and sat with it and brainstormed what came out and usually, usually it’s like five minutes of kind of chaos or things that don’t make sense come up and then it just like clicks and it comes through me and this was what came through and I like looking at it from the perspective of most things that people don’t do or are missing in their marketing, but also breaking it down into these different categories because I think if you just talked about marketing mistakes in general, which is something that I’ve actually been asked a lot on my podcast in the past. And different interviews I’ve done is like, what are the top mistakes people make? There’s obviously so many, but they can be applied to different areas of your marketing. So today we are gonna dive into the top mistakes that people make when it comes to optimize and improve something that is not converting and these mistakes. I’m probably the most excited for because I think this is where a lot of people kind of get frustrated when you launch a, a new funnel or a marketing strategy or a new offer and it doesn’t convert the way that you had hoped. I think that’s where a lot of times it can get really frustrating and people wanna throw in the towel or they feel like they’re doing something wrong or they’re missing something. But I always say that marketing starts when something isn’t working because most of the time the experience with marketing is that it doesn’t work out the gate, it doesn’t just like work right when you launch something that everything works exactly perfectly. It never needs to be adjusted. There are always, always adjustments that need to happen. And if you get really intentional and strategic with those and that optimization, then it can become a lot more clear and less overwhelming. So I have three mistakes. I wanted to go for less this time and be able to dig a little bit deeper into each mistake. And so OK, the first mistake, this one is the top. I actually wrote it down the less and I like moved it up to the top because I’m like, this one’s probably the most important and it’s, it’s often forgotten because I think that especially business owners, there’s a, a large amount of them who their brain just doesn’t work this way and they lack the knowledge and ability to be able to look at data. So the top mistake is not using data to make decisions and basing decisions off emotion and fear of failure versus what the data is saying. And the concept that marketing always works, it’s just a matter of when. So let’s break this down a little bit when you have something in your marketing that is not converting, that can be a very variety of different things, right. And we’ve covered kind of the levels of marketing this week and in the top, in the top mistake series because I’ve talked about content growing your audience lead generation and sales and those are like the three outcomes of marketing. And if you break them down into those three sections. And so when you go to look at data, you have to figure out what the data is saying about all the different parts of your marketing because the data is going to tell you what actions to take. And a lot of people, what happens is when their marketing isn’t working, they just panic, they go into like, oh my gosh, we’re not meeting our sales goals, we’re not making enough money, we’re spending, you know, this much on ads and it’s not coming back like this isn’t smart business decision. And what if I fail. What if this doesn’t work? And they go into that fear and emotion and in business and in marketing, it’s not a good idea to just make decisions off of reactive emotions. Ok? And so we’re gonna react sometimes as humans when we are scared. And so when we see expense going out, whether it’s ad spend or hiring team or whatever that is, and it not coming in, we panic and that’s a natural response. But you have to learn to have the ability to not react in that way to stop yourself from that reactivity and use the data because the data will guide you. So when we have the data, what we have to do is understand at the different levels of marketing, what are the metrics that we need to be tracking and then what are our metrics? And it’s that simple? What are the metrics? And then what are the metrics? I’m getting with my active marketing strategy. And are they where I need them to be? So to break, to keep this really simple because obviously I could probably teach like an hour class on data to keep it really simple. If you look at your content and you look at the visibility. The data that you’re looking for is things like engagement followers, podcast downloads, people actually consuming the content. People doing what you want that level of your marketing to do. Are they consuming the content? And is the amount of people consuming the content growing, that one’s pretty easy, right? So if you have nobody or you’re lacking that engagement and consumption in your content, that is a place to put your attention and figure out why is that happening? Is it not in the method people would want like delivered in audio or video? Is it too long? Is the content too overwhelming? Is it not topics they want to hear about? Like why do I think that’s happening and just co write? What comes up? Ok, then we move to lead generation. Now, what’s our goal with lead generation to generate leads for a good cost? So we’ve got cost per lead. We’ve got landing page conversion. How many people that land on the page where you’re asking them to give the name, an email actually do it and convert and if we’re getting a really high cost per lead and we’re spending money and we’re not generating leads, that’s gonna be a problem for generating sales. So we actually have to address that first before we can address why we’re not getting sales. Do you see where I’m going with this where each one impacts the other? And so what happens sometimes is people go, oh my gosh, you’re not getting sales. But the actual problem is they’re not generating an audience and they’re not generating leads. And so if we’re not doing that, you’re not gonna get the sales. So you need to start and address the first part. So cost per lead, if you’ve got a really high cost per lead, why, why are people seeing this and not converting? Is it what you’re asking them to sign up for? Do they not want it? Is it the messaging around it? Is it the ad copy the ad creative, the social post? What what do you think when you look at it from that viewpoint is confusing people or stopping them from signing up for what you want them to sign up for? If you’re not getting leads at all, this does also happen where people are like, well, I’m not getting many sales and my business isn’t making enough money. But then when I look deeper, I’m like, but you’re only generating like 10 leads a month and if you only generate 10 leads a month, how many sales do you think you’re gonna get from that? Probably not very many, right? So you’re setting yourself up to fail in that situation. If volume is an issue, if you’re not getting enough leads to get enough sales, then you need to solve the traffic problem. How do you get more leads? Are you gonna use organic? Are you gonna use paid media? Are you gonna use earned media where you go in front of other people’s audiences? Like, what’s the plan? Right? And then if you’re getting leads and you’re getting sales and they are you getting leads Audi and leads and you’re not getting sales. Why not? Why aren’t you getting the sales? Is it because they aren’t actually consuming the lead magnet or watching the webinar or opening your emails? If they’re not engaging, they’re probably not gonna buy. Are they actually engaging? Are they staying to the end of your webinar? And you’re still not getting sales? Ok. Then there’s a problem with the offer and the way you’re selling the offer, which you can go back to the previous podcast and listen to my tips on improving that. So it’s ultimately figuring out at the different points in your customer journey in your marketing strategy. Where are people dropping off? That’s number one, number two is why are they dropping off? And number three is what actions can I take? So they don’t drop off? Ok. And do you see how this is so much more of an intentional and grounded way to look at your marketing? Then the flip side of like, oh my God, I’m not getting sales. It’s not working. I gotta shut off all my ads like this isn’t gonna work for me. If something isn’t working, I need to, you know, blame this person or blame this or blame this coach or whatever. And this is so much more like, ok, here is where we’re at. Here’s what we can do. Here’s what we can control and here’s the actions that we’re gonna take and this is normal, it is normal to have to refine your strategy, your messaging your entire customer journey, sometimes your offer itself and the feedback your audience and your leads are giving you. They don’t even have to directly give it to you. You just have to look where are they dropping off? Because there’s a reason why people drop off. There’s always a reason because if they thought that the next action you want them to take in your marketing strategy in the customer journey was going to serve them, they would do it. So sometimes I get people who are like, well, I, people just aren’t watching my webinar and that’s the problem. And I think it’s because webinars are dead and no, we shouldn’t have done a webinar. My coach shouldn’t have taught me a webinar. Like the webinar is the problem. And while in some cases that could be true for that audience, I’m like, but people are coming to the beginning of your webinar. Right. Well, yeah, and then they’re leaving. Yeah. Well, if they thought that what you were saying was going to serve them and benefit them and solve their problems, solve their frustrations, achieve their desires, do you think they would stay? Yes, they would. Absolutely, they would. Right. So the problem is not the webinar in that type of a situation. The problem is the webinar content itself. And so what happens is people don’t take the accountability because they don’t know what to look at and they don’t think that this is normal. So that is the first biggest mistake people make with optimization not using data, not even knowing their data, not even knowing like how many of your leads convert. If you get 100 leads, how many convert? That’s your sales conversion? What are you paying cost per lead? How much are you spending and making back? What are those numbers? Where is the drop-off? And why is the drop-off happening? And then what actions can you take to improve it? And if you follow this cycle and you follow this formula, you will be successful. That’s the foundation of my core value that marketing always works. It’s just a matter of when. OK, mistake number two that happens is kind of related to this and it’s like this happens because people mostly are getting stuck on the last one and that’s giving up way too soon and giving up whether or not giving up on their whole business. I mean that that usually takes a lot to get to that point but giving up on the strategy or the direction or the focus. So let’s say someone is, you know, launching a podcast or launching a new funnel or putting a webinar out there or doing a live launch the second that it doesn’t work the way that they had expected it to work, then they’re like, I gotta to totally change directions, throw that in the trash, all the energy, all the effort that went into that. We’re pivoting over here, we’re back to square one. And the reason why this happens is because people are in that emotional reactive place where when something doesn’t work, they want to find something else to blame. They are scared, they feel fear all of those things. Right? And so then that leads to giving up and throwing all this work that they did for the last 1 to 3 months in the garbage and then kind of panicking and going on this little hamster wheel and then starting over at square one. So that’s the second one. They’re very connected, not giving up too soon because you’re using data to make decisions and you have actions related to those decisions. And so therefore, then you won’t give up too soon. OK? The third biggest mistake people make with their optimization and, and what they do when something isn’t working is this one’s a little bit more challenging to explain. And then that mistake is not taking action quick enough while also balancing, not losing focus and pivoting too big, too quickly. So this one’s a little harder because usually you have two like camps of people, you have the people who launch something and let it sit for a long time without taking any action and just kind of like crossing their fingers and like, OK, I launched my funnel like where’s the sales? And don’t do what I said on the first example of using data figuring out where the gaps are because there’s always gonna be gaps, there will always, always, always be a portion of your marketing and your customer journey that you can improve even if it’s working. Right. And so there’s those people who launch it and have bought into this idea of like launch a funnel and money will just come to me. And if not, I’m gonna blame somebody else for it, right. So not taking action quick enough and kind of hoping like, OK, maybe if I just wait a week, it’ll get better. That usually doesn’t happen. The second piece though to this is the other camp of people who lose focus and pivot too big, too quickly. That’s the people who oftentimes launch a funnel, it doesn’t work in the first week and their visionary entrepreneur mind goes, OK, maybe you should actually do a challenge instead of a webinar. Maybe you should launch this lead magnet. Maybe you need a new offer, maybe you should start a different business, right? And we have all these things that come up because we’re entrepreneurs and we’re visionaries and we have ideas and then they lose focus and they’re not even optimizing, they’re constantly starting back at square one. And so you have to have this balance where you’re right in the middle of this. On one hand, you have to make sure you’re always taking action, but you have to make sure that that action is driven by the data and driven by the places where you really need to take that action, not where you think you need to take the action, but where you need to because you looked at the data, you looked at where people are dropping off and you took action based on that. So taking that action and not being in a place where of, of hope like I just hope this works maybe if I leave it for another week. So when you launch, let’s say you’re launching a new funnel. This is a good example. So let’s say you launch a new funnel and the cost per lead out the gate is like $30 a lead. It’s terrible. Way too high, way too high, right? Ok. Letting that sit for a few days or a week is not gonna change. There’s a core issue with the offer with the messaging with the strategy that needs to be addressed. Ok? But if you launch something and the cost per lead is $5 more than you want it to be. Ok. Now there’s some room to wait with smaller actions like fresh ad copy, new video, little changes, little tweaks to get that down. So you can usually base this off of how badly it’s not working. If you’re getting, you know, 304 100 leads signed up for something and zero sales. There’s a foundational bigger problem which might call for a bigger pivot. But if you’re getting 304 100 leads and you’re getting four sales, so like 1% converting. OK. Now the foundation is working, we just need to improve it. So addressing the way that I balance, this is trying to get the root of is the foundation broken. Meaning the offer itself, the lead magnet itself, the webinar topic itself, the messaging as a whole like is the foundation of this strategy. Like what the strategy is is another example is that broken because it’s just not working at all. And it’s feeling like we’re walking through mud and it’s too hard and there’s too much resistance. That’s a sign that we need to make a bigger change. A bigger pivot, meaning maybe pivot to a different funnel, a whole new messaging like kind of refresh with clients where this will come up as if we’re in this situation, which we have been before. And I’m very transparent with that because it’s part of the journey. It’s part of how marketing works. Like everybody, even marketing experts get into this place. So if that happens, let’s say with a client, we have $30 cost per lead. We’re on a call and we’re looking at the messaging and we’re deep diving into the strategy and into the messaging and we’re making some big pivots. But if we’re in the boat of, we’re close, the foundation is working because we’re getting some momentum, but it’s not enough to be profitable. It’s not where we want it to fully be. Now, we make smaller pivots. We don’t throw away the entire funnel. We don’t throw away the entire offer. We don’t go back to square one. We take what is working on a small level even if it’s not profitable yet. Because if you’re getting those first sales and you’re getting leads and a portion of your marketing is working now, we just tweak and optimize the other parts. We don’t have to throw away the entire funnel, start from scratch and waste all our energy and effort. So it is definitely a balance of making sure you’re taking constant action. But you weigh how big those actions and pivots should be so that you’re not losing focus because I do see entrepreneurs get into a place where as soon as something isn’t working, they don’t want to continue with it because they get bored or they get frustrated or they have that resistance to it. So they pivot and they’re like, I got the best idea, let’s do this. But in the process, they’re losing focus and they’re basically setting themselves backwards because all of the energy and the effort that went into getting them to where they were now just got thrown in the trash and it got wasted. So you’ve got to balance this. So that is my third optimization strategy. As I was talking, something else came up to me as I was talking about number one, then I’m gonna also mention here as a bonus. I don’t know if this is a mistake as it relates to your optimization. But I do think it’s something that oftentimes leads to frustration and results and that is having a lack of clear expectations going out the gate with your marketing. So when you’re launching a new funnel or you’re launching a new offer and you’re putting something out there, a lot of times people put it out there and kind of just like hope to see what happens and see what results come in. But there’s oftentimes a disconnect where deep down, they have a very high expectation of like I’m gonna get 50 sales or I’m gonna get 100 sales or I’m gonna get 1000 leads. But then the actions in the budget and the resources being put towards that expectation actually happening doesn’t align. So it’s like, oh, I’m gonna get 100 sales, but with my budget, I’m probably only gonna get 80 leads if I pay, you know, 3 $4 cost per lead. Ok? That’s not gonna work, right? Because you’re not gonna convert 80% of your leads into sales. And so oftentimes I see people who have this mentality of like, let’s just put it out there, let’s see what happens. But deep down, they’ve got an expectation then that expectation is not met, but they were never clear in making sure that that expectation is matched by the actual resources, time and money that are going to be going out to get to that expectation. So having those clear expectations in terms of what’s our budget, what is our goal cost per lead? What is our goal sales conversion? What is our goal sales, and does this align or do we need to spend more? I tell people like when you’re gonna do a live launch, for example, there’s a lot of work that goes into that. There’s a lot of work that goes into doing a live webinar or a live challenge or a live experience. And if you only get 50 people into that, are you gonna be OK with that? Or do you want to spend more money to get more data and get more people into this container into this experience with you to make that time that you are putting into facilitating that live launch worth it for you. So not having expectations can oftentimes lead to people being frustrated but not actually knowing the root of their frustration and it could just be a volume thing and a resource attribution thing. So or allocation thing would be the right word for that. All right. This was episode four. If you haven’t caught up in the series, you can go back, you can catch them up. We’ve got some really good stuff that I’ve talked about in terms of top mistakes with your visibility, your brand awareness, your lead generation, your sales and tomorrow I am going to go at a high level and talk about marketing mistakes as a whole. So it doesn’t matter what business you’re in, what niche, what type of offer, what industry, what level you’re at. These are consistent mistakes that I see entrepreneurs making at the very beginning all the way up to 7, 8 figures. All right, I will talk to you guys tomorrow.