Marketing is pretty simple. At its heart, it a clear, step-by-step process.

Identify who your main target audience is and understand as much as you can about their demographics, psychographics and buying patterns.
Identify at least one key competitive advantage about your product that your target audience would find appealing.
Based on your budget, determine the optimal mix of tactics (e.g. advertising, PR, event sponsorships, collateral, signage, social media) to promote your product to that audience.
Develop creative (including social media content) to communicate your competitive advantage.
Utilize additional tactics like promotions to further support your message and drive sales.
Monitor what works and continue to optimize your plan.

So why does it seem so difficult to just get people to buy your stuff?

Well, here are some issues that come up.

Target Audience
In order to maximize potential customers, many companies expand their target audience to pretty much anyone. The difficult part about that is that different people buy things for different reasons. So it makes it hard to craft messages that resonate profoundly to any one individual because you’re trying to speak to everyone. It’s the equivalent of a parent trying to teach the same lesson to their 3 month old, their 4 year old and their 15 year old. What can you possibly say that all of them can understand and relate to?

The alternative (and generally the recommended strategy) is to target a very specific group that would gain the most value for your product. However, it’s also putting all your eggs in one basket. What if they just don’t get it or like it? What if you can’t achieve critical mass by focusing on just that one small niche?

Competitive Advantage
While there are notable products that are clearly superior to their competitive set, most companies offer much of the same benefits as their rivals. They’re better at some things and worse at others. Depending on the customer’s needs, one product might be a perfect match, while another customer may see the differences as irrelevant. Gone are the days when a few powerful competitors battled over a single product category. Technology and a culture of startups allow a near infinite supply of alternatives. How do you craft a singular advantage that can rise above all the noise?

Budget
It should come as no surprise that there isn’t a marketing department in the entire corporate world that feels they have an adequate budget to achieve the goals set before them. We never have enough.

Creative
While some parts of a marketing message can be carefully tested and optimized (e.g. headlines, call to actions, some imagery), on the whole, it’s nearly impossible to artificially manufacture something that is guaranteed to “go viral.” That truth is why creative is still so difficult to create, no matter how much analytics and big data you have. There will always be an x-factor about why people love that one spot and barely remember another.

Sales and Promotions
How far can you push discounts without sacrificing the brand? How do you time it so it doesn’t become a drug that you can’t let go of?

Analysis and Optimization
Split testing is helpful in seeing which headline or image or subject line performs better. The difficulty is in determining why so you can duplicate it in other tactics. What works for one may not work in another.

Politics
The last thing that doesn’t really come up in the process is the internal politics that all companies face. People are human and, in general, do things for their own personal goals and reasons. The best idea doesn’t always win. The boss isn’t always right, but is followed more than should.

Despite our best efforts, effectively and efficiently marketing any product or service is by far a much more difficult endeavor than the process itself.