User Experience design is at the contemporary crux of the software and technology industry (or Consumer Experience, if we want to get the most contemporary). The tech arms race is a neck-and-neck, multi-billion dollar battle between thousands of front runners united under a common goal set: make it simple, make it streamlined, and make it sell (whatever “it” is). Unfortunately when we really look closely, it seems that customer interactions start with sales teams and User Experience best practices are only applied during product development.

Many software companies face an interesting dilemma with marketing. Products are increasingly designed to adapt to the needs of a variety of potential users, and UX drives decisions about design and architecture. For example, an enterprise staffing software might aim to design accurate, reliable systems and interfaces that make corporate recruiting as effective and painless as possible. Ideally, the UX/UI is adaptable and extendable, so that the platform itself does not need to be rebuilt at each deployment. While the product itself might recognize the two or three or more consumer channels that it is connecting, marketing efforts probably look like a predictable mix of media buying, PPC, social posting on major platforms and half-hearted attempts at blogging.

Business is growing. Products are flying off the shelf, your reach is expanding, your market share is becoming more and more dominant. You find yourself having to hire more people and shift the ones you already have into leadership and management roles. Things are happening so fast that you can barely keep up.

Then your accountant comes to you and shows you how you’re losing money. How can this be? You have more customers buying more stuff from you than you ever have before. Your competitors’ customers are running to you, and you’re getting pressure to expand beyond your regional market. How can there be a net loss?

The example above demonstrates a common scenario for small and midsized businesses in the growth phase. The conditions are a byproduct of poor (or simply the lack of) planning and strategic formulation. Growth for the sake of growth, or what we call “reactionary scaling” can be ultimately toxic for your business. I’m going to outline some common mistakes we see (especially with regard to a brand’s digital marketing strategy), and how to avoid them.