When a marketing campaign fails, I first determine whether it has previously performed well or has failed from the start. This first diagnosis is critical because it establishes the decision tree for the entire response. If the campaign was originally successful, the problem is most likely a recent change. This requires an investigation into issues such as audience fatigue, changes in competition, or changes to the platform's algorithms, with interventions centered on refreshing creatives and changing methods. If the campaign has never met its objectives, the issue is more serious and requires a thorough strategic review of the core offer, audience targeting, foundational messaging, and user experience. This could imply completely changing the strategy or experimenting with brand-new ideas.
I go back to the offer. If the targeting is decent and the creative is getting clicks but no conversions, the value exchange probably isn't compelling enough. I'll rewrite the headline and lead with a clearer outcome or stronger hook—often testing a "no-risk" angle or fast win. More often than not, tightening the offer turns the whole thing around.
When a marketing campaign underperforms my go-to move is to revamp the messaging. The campaigns that work for us speak directly to our target audience. When the messaging feels like a one on one conversation we will get people saying, I never respond to cold emails but yours was different. If our target market isn't saying that then the messaging is not personalized enough so we go back to the drawing board to make it better. New AI tools and scraping tools make it easier to collect more personalized data on our target market so making our messaging feel more personal is easier than ever.
One thing we always do when a marketing campaign isn't hitting its goals is look at the data to see where people are dropping off. We figure out if it's the ad itself, the landing page, or something else in the funnel. Once we pinpoint the problem, we make a quick, targeted change there first. Often, a small tweak in the right spot can make a big difference without having to redesign the whole campaign.
When a campaign doesn't preform that way we expect, I immediately flip into "rapid-test mode" to pinpoint the chokepoint (targeting, ad creative, audience, offer, or landing page), spin up three to five A/B tests that tackle the biggest hypothesis first, and let the data call the winner within a few days. Anything that beats the control by at least 20% in cost-per-acquisition becomes the new baseline, and I push budget behind it while queuing up the next round of experiments. Fail fast, learn faster, and double down on what the numbers prove works.
I gut-check the offer first—nine times outta ten, it's not the channel or the creative, it's that the offer just isn't juicy enough. If people aren't biting, no amount of tweaking headlines will save it. So I reframe the value prop to make it more urgent, exclusive, or pain-point-driven. Once the offer hits, the rest falls into place.
If a campaign underperforms, I try not to overreact. First I'll look at the offer and the core hook. If that's off, nothing else will work. But sometimes it's just not a fit. Maybe it's the wrong audience, bad timing, or just not a compelling enough idea. Let's be honest: not every campaign is going to hit. The key is to figure out why, take the lesson, and either kill it or move on to the next experiment. That's the job. Run smart tests, learn fast, and don't get too precious about any single outcome.
When a campaign doesn't go as expected, I know to just do a ride along with my clients. At Mexico-City-Private-Driver.com, we launched a campaign that targeted high end travelers that want airport transfers, well, the campaign flopped! In 10 days we only had 3 bookings despite hundreds of clicks. Instead of making blindly tweaks to the ads, I decided to do a ride along with each of my drivers. I spent one day greeting clients as they came into the arrivals area asking one question, "Why did you book with us?" The answer was consistent, but surprising. Most clients didn't care about the airport transfer. They were looking for a trusted local guide to help them navigate the city with safety, comfort and without stress. Some were on their honeymoon, some relocating for work, some arrived with older family. That changed everything. We repositioned the service from airport transfers to "your first friend in Mexico City", a premium concierge-style welcome with local suggestions, bottled water, air conditioning, uncluttered vehicle with a full bilingual service. Within 7 days our conversion rates increased by 44% and our average order value went up 38%. So my playbook now is pretty simple, get out from behind the dashboard, and jump into a car. No A/B test will ever replace a real human discussion.
4 months back, we noticed that our marketing campaign wasn't performing as we had hoped. We were promoting our services and products, but the response wasn't what we expected. Instead of getting frustrated, I took a step back and looked at the data. Then I made two changes that helped us to improve the campaign and get better results without starting over: 1. Clarified the messaging to highlight the value we offer to our target audience. 2. Made the website and landing pages easier for users to navigate and use.