Over the Lenten holiday, we came up with a list of nine things Marketers should try to give up for Lent (you didn’t have to be Catholic to give it a try).  And even though Lent is over (and the Easter Bunny has since hopped away), these nine are still worth quitting like a bad habit…

1.  Social Media for the sake of fitting in.  Go ahead: blog, tweet, post and check-in to your heart’s content.  But have a purpose!  Know what you’re going to do with all those new-found facebook friends you garnered from running that sweepstakes. Click here for more on how to find the right social fit for your brand/campaign.

2.  Dunkin Donuts coffee.  Just kidding (Really, we’ll never give up our DD coffee…you shouldn’t either.)

3.  Running a sweepstakes/contest without having the right games administration partner.  As Julia Roberts’ character said in Pretty Woman, “Big Mistake.  Big.  Huge!”  Of course, she had “to go shopping now.”  You have to go shopping, too.  For the right partner.  Click here for tips on finding the right one.

4.  Creating an event or promotion without establishing criteria with which to measure success.  The first thing that must be established is the “WHY.”  Why are you creating this event/promotion?  What is your core objective?  What do you hope to achieve?  And then: HOW will you determine whether you’ve achieved it?

5.  Dunkin’ Donuts.  Not a bad idea, says the bathroom scale.  But, c’mon, every marketer needs his/her vice.

6.  Doing it all in-house, because you think agencies are too expensive.  The truth is, we’re not.  It’s all relative.  What is it you’re trying to accomplish?  Maybe you have an idea and you just need an agency to help you execute it.  Maybe you have no idea what to do, but if you can just get some outstanding, unique ideas, you can handle the execution yourself. Maybe you need everything from ideation through execution.  Regardless, we agencies have something to offer beyond our experience.  And that is intellectual property. It is worth your time and money to give us a shot.  Agencies think differently, therefore, we are. Click here to find out where the magic is, and 3 ways to make your own.

 7. Using the recession as a crutch.  It’s old news. But you’re still using it as an excuse to hold back budgets from any marketing spending.  Time to move on.  There are plenty of effective ways to reach your target audience without blowing any budgets.  Get creative.  And get marketing.

8. Using Dunkin’ Donuts as a crutch.  “But the box of a dozen was just sitting there…” (Are you picking up on a theme here?)

9.  Building a new website without building in SEO.  Designing and building a website takes time, creativity, money.  It can be well worth it, but if you don’t include the right meta tags for easy Search Engine Optimization, your shiny, new site won’t get the exposure it deserves.

Listen, quitting any habit is tough.  Tell us… which of these nine are you gonna “86″? Any other bad marketing habits you’ve kicked (or are working on kicking)?