Marketing and advertising can make or break a business. Yet, so many companies continue to sabotage their own success by making avoidable mistakes—whether it’s chasing shiny new trends, skimping on their budget, or refusing to trust experts who actually know what they’re doing.

If you’re serious about fixing your marketing and advertising, here are five brutally honest ways to unfuck it.

1. Know What You Know—And More Importantly, Know What You DON’T Know

Look, just because you watched a YouTube video on marketing doesn’t mean you’re a marketing expert. You wouldn’t build a house because you saw a tutorial on home construction, so why would you try to DIY your marketing and advertising?

There’s a reason successful businesses hire professionals. Strategic media placement, ad targeting, creative development, and branding all require expertise, experience, and data-driven decision-making.

If you don’t understand how to craft an effective marketing campaign, when and where to advertise, or how to build brand recognition—then defer to the experts. Winging it is not a strategy.

2. Stop Chasing Shiny New Trends Without a Strategy

Every year, some new marketing trend emerges that businesses feel obligated to jump on. Sometimes it’s TikTok. Sometimes it’s AI-generated content. Sometimes it’s influencer marketing.

Here’s the reality: Not every trend is right for your business.

Just because it’s possible to market your business on a new platform doesn’t mean it’s profitable or even relevant to your audience. Before you start throwing money at the next big thing, ask a professional if it makes sense for your business.

3. Stop Trying to Do Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

This might be tough to hear, but if you’re not budgeting properly for marketing and advertising, your business is already screwed.

Marketing is not an optional expense—it’s the engine that drives customer acquisition, brand awareness, and sales. If you only invest in marketing when sales are slow, you’re already too late.

Businesses fail not just because they lack sales, but because they are underfunded and unable to sustain growth. If you’re cutting corners in marketing, you’re crippling your business before it even has a chance to thrive.

Make marketing a priority. Budget for it. Plan for it. Invest in it. Every single month.

4. Build a Brand That Doesn’t Look Like a Cheap Afterthought

Branding is more than just a logo—it’s the identity of your business. And yet, so many companies treat it like an afterthought:

• Using random fonts and colors with no consistency
• Slapping together a logo from Fiverr that looks like it was made in 30 seconds
• Using stock photos that don’t reflect your brand personality

Your brand should be intentional, cohesive, and professional. Every piece of your marketing—from your website to your business cards to your social media presence—should reflect the same high-quality, well-thought-out identity.

If your branding looks cheap, inconsistent, or amateurish, that’s exactly what your audience will assume about your business.

5. Stay in Your Lane (And Leave Your Ego at the Door)

Not everyone is cut out to be the face of their brand—and that’s okay.

Some business owners insist on starring in their own commercials, video ads, or social media content, even when they have zero charisma, terrible camera presence, and no ability to communicate their message effectively.

If you aren’t good on camera, don’t force it.

There are better ways to showcase your brand without making yourself the centerpiece. Let professionals handle the visuals, voiceovers, and ad creatives. Focus on running your business, not feeding your vanity.

Conclusion: Fix It Before It Fails

If your marketing isn’t working, it’s probably because you’re doing it wrong.

The good news? Mad Men Marketing is here to help. We cut through the bullshit, build real strategies that actually drive results, and help businesses stop wasting time and money on ineffective marketing.

Ready to unfuck your advertising? Contact Mad Men Marketing today and let’s do this the right way.

The post 5 Ways To Unfuck Your Marketing appeared first on Mad Men Marketing.

1. Understand Your Sales Funnel

Start by analyzing your sales funnel to understand how customers discover your business and make purchase decisions. This insight will help you identify which stages of the funnel require more investment to optimize the customer journey from awareness to conversion.

2. Set Clear Marketing Objectives

Define what you want to achieve with your marketing efforts. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, boost sales, or enter a new market? Your objectives should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

3. Analyze Past Marketing Performance

If you’ve run marketing campaigns in the past, assess their performance to determine what worked and what didn’t. This analysis can help you allocate your budget more effectively, ensuring better returns on investment.

4. Consider Your Industry Benchmarks

Research what similar businesses in your industry are spending on marketing. While it’s not necessary to match your competitors dollar for dollar, understanding industry benchmarks can provide a helpful context for your budgeting decisions.

5. Choose Your Marketing Channels Wisely

Different marketing channels offer varying returns on investment. Consider your target audience, marketing objectives, and past performance data to select channels that will offer the best ROI for your business.

6. Allocate Your Budget Across Channels

Divide your marketing budget across chosen channels based on their expected performance and your business priorities. Be flexible and willing to adjust your allocations as you monitor campaign performance and market conditions.

7. Monitor, Measure, and Adjust

Review your marketing activities’ performance against your objectives regularly. Be prepared to reallocate funds from underperforming channels to those delivering better results.

8. Factor in Operational Costs

Remember to account for operational costs related to marketing, such as software subscriptions, agency fees, and employee salaries. These costs should be a part of your overall marketing budget to avoid underestimation.

Establishing Your Marketing Budget

A rule of thumb is to allocate a percentage of your gross revenue to marketing. New businesses might spend between 12% to 20% of their gross revenue on marketing, while established businesses might allocate between 6% to 12%. However, the right percentage depends on your industry, size, and growth stage.

Determining the right marketing budget for your business involves a blend of strategic planning, industry insight, and ongoing evaluation. By following these steps, you can create a marketing budget that supports your business goals and maximizes your return on investment.

Done all that? Now what?!

Once you’ve done all of that, it’s time to put your newly minted budget to work! Reach out to our full-service ad agency, and let us help you craft the killer campaigns & strategies you and your business deserve. 

With our knowledge of and experience with crafting impactful marketing strategies that drive results, we can help you optimize your marketing spend in order to get the ROI you need. Contact us today at 904-355-1766.

The post How to Determine a Marketing Budget for Your Business appeared first on Mad Men Marketing.

And let’s face it: We’re living in an era where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly commonplace across virtually every industry, from healthcare to customer service field operations.

Simply put, AI presents a unique opportunity for advertisers of all industries. But, how so? And does that mean we may soon be replaced by computer algorithms?

Let’s dive in…

Advantages of Integrating AI into Advertising

AI is becoming an increasingly attractive and powerful tool for the advertising industry. Specifically, AI technology can help businesses target their customers more accurately than ever before, giving them unique insights into their customer base that they are then able to leverage in a variety of ways.

From providing personalized experiences to optimizing ad spend and increasing conversions, AI integration provides marketers with an array of benefits. Additionally, it helps automate simple tasks like targeting which can free up a team’s time and be put towards higher-level strategic decisions.

As reported by Statista, nearly half of the respondents to a survey on consumer attitudes towards AI said that they would be more likely to interact with AI if it could provide them with a more “seamless, consistent, and convenient” customer experience.

In particular, customers increasingly want AI-driven advertising that is tailored to their specific needs and preferences. They want advertising that is highly personalized, relevant, and tailored to them as individuals.

Thus, the idea of AI integration just makes sense for those in advertising.

So, Will AI Replace Us?

Let’s take a look at one of the most common fields getting attention for AI use: copywriting.

AI is an incredibly powerful and useful tool for copywriters, but it will not replace them. This is because artificial intelligence and automation can help copywriters streamline their creative process, but AI is incapable of replacing the human element in writing.

After all, copywriting requires skills that AI simply can’t replicate, like…

• Creativity
• Critical thinking
• Problem-solving
• And more

Additionally, while AI can be an effective tool for accelerating performance and reaching customers with precision, it is essential that businesses fact-check the results they receive from AI-generated data and use the technology responsibly.

For example, “[ChatGPT] It can answer questions or prompts quickly in writing, which raises the question of how it might be used to spread misinformation in the coming years,” Poynter explains. “ChatGPT doesn’t provide any sources for the information it puts out, a clear red flag.”

Thus, copywriters are still necessary as they not only work with AI programs to enhance their writing, but they also need to act as fact-checkers and an immediate source of quality control.

What the Future Holds For AI and Advertising Integration

As the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to permeate modern life, it is no surprise that this technology has made its way into the field of advertising. AI has been integrated with digital ad campaigns to create more tailored content and more efficient data analysis.

That said, it is expected that this integration will only continue to grow in the future.

In fact, research published in the International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) predicted in 2020 that “the total revenue for this technology is expected to increase from 7.4 billion US Dollars in 2018 to 89.85 billion in 2025.”

And given its recent explosion from 2022 to 2023, that number may continue to skyrocket.

But, what does this have to do with you? Simple: If you’re looking to take your advertising game to the next level, working with a marketing agency that utilizes AI is a no-brainer.

If you hire a marketing agency that stays ahead of the curve and utilizes the industry’s latest technology, you can trust that your marketing strategy will also put you ahead of your competitors — so why wait?

It’s time to partner up with an AI-savvy marketing agency, like Mad Men Marketing, whose copywriting and social media department utilize Jasper AI — one of the first generative AI platforms specifically designed to produce long-form content for business purposes.

And if you hadn’t already guessed, this blog post itself has been written by our Copy Chief with, you guessed it, Jasper AI!

So if you want to get your advertising campaigns off the ground quickly and effectively, call Mad Men Marketing today. We’re ready to help you leverage the cutting-edge power of AI-infused advertising in order to interact with your customers, rather than interrupt them.

So, are you ready to interact? If so, contact Mad Men Marketing today by calling (904) 355-1766!

The post The Intelligent Move is The Integration of AI Into Advertising appeared first on Mad Men Marketing.