Unless you are Verizon, a company that seemingly has no cap on the amount of marketing dollars it can spend promoting FIOS, you have a budget. Use your budget wisely. Sounds simple yet how many companies don’t get this?

You may be wasting your marketing dollars (and creating bad blood along the way) if:

• You are sending enewsletters without permission or too many times a week or without a clear, easy opt-out
• You are sending non-targeted direct mail
• You are using robo-calls to mass dial anyone in an area code (this is not only stupid, it is illegal)
• You are using threatening language
• You are sending multiple pieces and none of them have the same offer
• You are sending marketing pieces that contain typos, grammatical and/or spelling mistakes
• You are sending marketing pieces that look home-made (and not in the enticing, chocolate chip cookie kind of way)
• You are mistaking the fact that someone once gave you a business card for the opportunity to blanket him/her with marketing messages
• You are using your social media platforms to sell, sell, sell…never bothering to interact/engage
• Your marketing does not match reality (you say you offer 24/7 support but what that means is that you can hold for assistance for 24 hours or more)

Marketing that works is strategic and thoughtful. Sending out hundreds of letters to people who have no need for your service (like sending coupons for garage door openers to people who live in apartment buildings) is a waste. Use your dollars wisely.