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Forbes
18-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
15 Warning Signs A Marketing Idea Might Miss The Mark
Even the most creative marketing ideas can fall flat if they don't connect with the target audience. Whether it's a mismatch in tone, unclear messaging or a lack of customer insights, early warning signs often surface before a campaign goes live. The key to long-term marketing success lies in recognizing those signs and making timely, strategic pivots. Here, 15 members of Forbes Communications Council share the telltale signs that a marketing idea might not land and how to shift direction in a way that better resonates with your customers. 1. Earning Impressions Without Engagement A clear warning sign is when a campaign gets high impressions but low engagement. People see it but don't act. That usually means the message isn't resonating emotionally or solving a clear problem. To pivot, I revisit the customer's pain points and rewrite the hook to focus on a specific benefit they care about, such as saving time or achieving a key metric faster. - Lisa Maynard, Awin 2. Straying Too Far From Brand Authenticity When a marketing idea feels off-brand, it's a clear sign to pivot. Today's consumers rank authenticity as one of their top priorities when it comes to branded content, and anything misaligned with your brand's voice or values risks falling flat. You should start by realigning the idea with your brand pillars, and then engage with your audience to help shape effective campaign direction and execution. - Scott Morris, Sprout Social 3. Explaining Ideas That Don't Instantly Click When you explain your idea to your team, do they all instantly get it, or is there a lot of resistance? Is it confusing? Generally, a good idea, and especially a great one, resonates quickly. You want to lean into the intuition of your team as an initial test run before expanding an idea more broadly. - Rachel Kule, Pursuit PR 4. Ignoring Customer Insights In Favor Of Internal Excitement A clear warning sign that a marketing idea might miss the mark is when internal excitement is high, but it's not grounded in customer insights. If early feedback, A/B tests or past performance data suggest confusion, apathy or misalignment with audience needs, it's time to reassess. You'll have to revisit Voice of the Customer (VoC) research and past campaign learnings to find where the disconnect lies. - Kurt Allen, Notre Dame de Namur University Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify? 5. Overlooking Feedback From Frontline Teams When the internal team closest to customer interactions expresses significant confusion or skepticism about a new marketing idea's core message, there is an issue. They are often the canary in the coal mine. If this happens, you must pivot by immediately conducting small-scale qualitative testing. Revealing where the disconnect lies allows you to refine or even fundamentally rethink the concept before a costly public launch. - Patrick Ward, NanoGlobals 6. Prioritizing Internal Language Over Customer Benefits One warning sign is when messaging feels disconnected from customer reality. I pivoted from legal-focused patent enforcement language to technology innovation stories, transforming Reuters coverage from "patent entity" to "technology company" by centering content on actual customer benefits rather than internal priorities. - JoAnn Yamani, Future 500 7. Following Trends Instead Of Customer Needs One warning sign is when an idea prioritizes trendiness over customer insights. If it looks great in a pitch deck but doesn't align with what your audience values or needs, it's a red flag. To pivot, you must return to your data and customer feedback. You can then center the message on solving a real pain point or reinforcing brand trust—not just chasing clicks. - Maria Alonso, Fortune 206 8. Overloading Campaigns With Too Many CTAs Sometimes you feel the urge to offer many different paths—'learn more,' 'sign up,' 'share now' and so on—so you can cast a wide net. Each marketing campaign should be focused on affecting a specific metric, and that needs to be the star of the show. If you're trying to be all things to all people, it's a sign to break up the campaign into more specific ones. - Ellen Sluder 9. Seeing Indifference Instead Of Engagement A major red flag is when your audience's first reaction is indifference. If early reactions are lukewarm—no pushback, but no spark either—it's a sign the idea isn't emotionally resonating. I pivot by shifting from product-centric messaging to story-driven content that speaks to real aspirations and challenges. Relevance creates energy; indifference reveals a disconnect. - Katie Jewett, UPRAISE Marketing + Public Relations 10. Mistaking Internal Consensus For Customer Validation When an idea gets unanimous internal praise too quickly, that's my red flag. If there's no friction, no challenge, it often means we're in an echo chamber—building for ourselves, not the customer. I pivot by intentionally pressure-testing the idea with a few trusted, contrarian voices outside marketing—customer success, sales and even legal. Real insight lives where resistance begins. - Deboshree Sarkar, Platform 11. Sounding Too Promotional And Losing Trust If a marketing idea feels too promotional, it's a red flag and risks losing authenticity and audience trust. Today's consumers crave value and connection. You can pivot by focusing on storytelling or utility and showing how your brand fits into their world rather than shouting for attention. - Lyric Mandell, PhD, MOXY Company 12. Sacrificing Clarity For Cleverness One warning sign that a marketing idea may not land is when it leans too heavily on cleverness at the expense of clarity. If it needs too much explanation, it likely won't connect. A better approach may be to refocus on the customer's core needs—what they value, fear or aspire to. Ideas rooted in those truths tend to resonate and perform more effectively. - Rob Robinson, HaystackID 13. Making Claims That Don't Match Delivery When campaign messaging and brand promise are not matched by actual delivery, consumer trust and brand equity erode. In 2025, toilet paper brand Charmin faced backlash after marketing itself as forest-friendly and sustainable while sourcing from suppliers linked to deforestation. This disconnect invited both reputational and legal risk, proving that marketing must align with operational truth. - Toby Wong, Toby Wong Consulting 14. Noticing Underperforming Performance Metrics A warning sign that a marketing idea may not be effective is when the performance metrics, such as engagement rates, click-through rates or conversions, are underperforming. To pivot, I'd reassess these metrics, refine the messaging and adjust the targeting. This could include changing the content format or experimenting with different calls to action to better engage the audience and improve results. - Lauren Parr, RepuGen 15. Launching Without A Strong Customer Connection A weak connection between the idea and customer insights will increase the risk of failing, regardless of how innovative or well-produced the campaign is. The pivot is about reconnecting creativity with commercial and customer relevance. A strong marketing idea sits at the intersection of brand purpose, customer insights and market context. - Khalid Al Awar, Dubai Sports Council
Forbes
25-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Why, And How, Brands Are Swapping MLM For Affiliate Marketing
Lisa Maynard is Vice President, Marketing at global affiliate marketing platform Awin. The multi-level marketing (MLM) industry has been part of American commercial life for at least 100 years. What began as the door-to-door selling of vitamins and perfume has become a channel worth tens of billions of dollars with an estimated 6,000 participating brands. The basic model—in which independent distributors earn income from direct sales and sales generated by their recruited downline seller teams—has remained constant. For direct seller 'distributors,' MLM promised high potential income and the opportunity to be your own boss. MLM companies have been successful for decades, but, recently, many have struggled to drive sales and profit growth. In response, companies that historically relied on MLM sales models have been making changes to modernize their businesses, accelerate growth and increase profitability. This includes embracing affiliate marketing, either as a complement to their existing model or a complete replacement. BODi (part of Beachbody) recently transitioned to an affiliate-centric model. Other major MLM-focused businesses such as 4Life, BELLAME, Herbal Alchemy, Pure Romance and SimplyFun have either added affiliate programs or replaced MLM with this form of digital partner marketing. And a survey by Direct Selling News showed that 67% of MLM companies are either contemplating or have already implemented business model changes. Foremost, the rise of e-commerce and social media has intensified direct-selling competition, driving MLM companies to explore new growth avenues. It's become harder for all these direct-selling organizations to find great distributors who want to make a living selling person-to-person. In today's landscape, many prefer creating online businesses and partnering with multiple brands that don't require a sign-up fee or prepurchase of inventory to sell. Secondly, MLM distributors divide their efforts between selling products and recruiting new representatives. Some believe that the distraction of downstream recruitment impedes overall business growth. Additionally, increased regulatory scrutiny is prompting some MLMs to seek less controversial selling structures. Changing consumer behavior is also a major factor to evaluate, as people today look to digital media for product ideas and information and want recommendations from trusted sources. Many consumers also want to avoid the high pressure of person-to-person sales, preferring to discover products based on the recommendations of creators and publishers they trust. As a result of these changing shopping behaviors, and a focus on more authentic purchase journeys, affiliate has become a promising and more effective model. Affiliate marketing is a performance-based system where businesses reward partners for driving desired actions, like sales or leads. Affiliates promote a company's products or services, earning a commission for each successful referral. It is a digital channel without the hierarchy of downstream teams and compensation. Activity and sales are tracked by third-party affiliate networks that ensure the right partner is compensated for each sale. By prioritizing the following steps, companies can get the most out of their affiliate marketing program: Establish A Vetting Process For Publishers: Reviewing and approving applications is a time-consuming, yet crucial, process for brands to ensure a publisher is well-suited for their program. But don't leave a publisher's application pending for too long, or they will apply elsewhere. Communicate Effectively: Once accepted, publishers should be seen as an extension of your sales force. It is key to provide them with the relevant information they need to best promote your brand, such as your company's top selling or best converting products. Ensure Their Creatives Are Up To Date: Publishers should receive the most recent creatives and offers, or site visitors may not be given the offer they expected. This can have a major impact on conversion. Optimize Site Conversion: A strong conversion rate is arguably more important than the offered commission for a sale, as publishers will resist sending their audience to a site that doesn't convert. You can increase rates by offering unique online discounts or removing any unnecessary steps in the checkout process. Validate Sales Regularly: Publishers must be paid consistently. Additionally, certain publisher types require expenditures to optimize their campaigns, and regular validations are essential for them to budget properly. If done properly, affiliate marketing can offer several advantages over an MLM model, including greater reach, sales and scalability, as well as improved brand reputation. While there are many reasons for companies to embrace affiliate, some operational changes are required. Companies accustomed to focusing on recruitment and building a downline must shift their mindset toward nurturing relationships with a diverse network of affiliate partners, each with its own audience and marketing strategy. The transition also comes with many blind spots and easily occurring mistakes, such as poor tracking and analytics that can result in a lack of awareness of affiliate performance and hidden costs like platform fees and management tools. Many brands also operate under the misassumption that high commissions alone will attract top affiliates, which they may not. Since affiliate is a pay-for-performance channel, potential partners choose programs based on the available sales commission, relevance to their audience and various other benefits offered. One way companies can overcome these blind spots and missteps is by ensuring they implement robust tracking systems to collect accurate performance data. For example, Google Analytics can regularly track link performance to identify what conversion tactics work and fall short, including link placements, calls to action, type of content and more. Affiliate network platforms are also available to simplify the process of identifying and recruiting relevant and authentic partners for a high likelihood of success. The days of selling vitamins door to door may have long ended, but as Alexander Graham Bell said: 'When one door closes, another one opens.' Transitioning to affiliate offers a compelling opportunity to MLMs, which is why many mainstay MLM brands are quickly making the shift. By embracing this new model, MLM companies can improve transparency, expand their reach and increase customer satisfaction. And it's done while simultaneously driving greater efficiency and profitability. Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
