7 BAD MARKETING PRACTICES
05 April 2024
Written by Omneya Nabil
Bad marketing is expensive.
Because it’ll cost you more to rebuild broken relationships with your audience.
And this requires time, effort, and resources that could have been better spent on developing positive relationships from the start.
But what is bad marketing?
Here are seven examples of bad marketing practices that need to stop.
1. Negative body image
Ads that promote unrealistic beauty standards or shame individuals for their appearance lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem among your audience.
2. Insecurities
Marketing campaigns that play on the audience’s insecurities or fears to sell products or services are a clear example of exploiting vulnerability for profit.
3. Creating false needs
Marketing messages that create or exaggerate problems to sell solutions. This makes customers believe they need something they don’t actually need.
4. Guilt-tripping
Ads that guilt-trip consumers into making purchases by suggesting that they are inadequate or selfish if they don’t buy a particular product.
5. Comparison marketing
Campaigns that encourage consumers to compare themselves to others and imply that they are lacking in some way unless they buy a certain product.
6. Shaming tactics
Marketing that shames individuals for their lifestyle choices, financial status, or personal circumstances. This could make them feel inadequate and unworthy.
7. Exploiting vulnerable people
Targeting vulnerable people such as children, the elderly, or individuals with mental health issues with marketing messages that exploit their condition for profit.
Over to you. What are your least favourite marketing practices? To join the conversation, head over to the original post on LinkedIn.