How to Waste Your Marketing Dollars

The result: The owner still “saw” color staining in the images, and he switched agencies, again depriving his catalog of a production team that had learned something about his customers and product line.

2. Resist the urge to rewrite your copywriter’s copy.

A national cataloger hired a catalog agency to reposition its mature title in the face of growing competition. The cataloger adopted a new look and copy style after split-testing showed a double-digit increase in sales to its audience. After a couple of years though, the head of the company decided she didn’t like it, and began personally rewriting it in a totally different, highly promotional style — without testing it first.