Marketing. Where to begin? Take the first step to marketing success.
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- 62 different types of Colgate toothpaste
- 121 emails per day for the average office worker
- 174 newspapers per day – the data equivalent of the reading we face
- 300+ different marketing tools
In a world of busy, how can we even begin to focus on one thing? When faced with an overwhelming number of choices, how does on decide on just one? Take the first step to marketing success as you decide.
Rachelle, a life coach, teaches at more than five online universities. In addition, she’s working on her heath coach certification, remodeling her home and taking care of her husband as he recovers from major surgery.
Karen is balancing a full coaching practice, the promotion of her just-published book, new skills trainings, speaking appointments and a four-day getaway to San Diego.
As the three of us talked about marketing during a recent call, I suggested, “Why don’t you cut some of your activities?”
“I love everything I do,” Karen said enthusiastically. “I wouldn’t give up a thing.” I understand this. The lure of variety, especially new projects, is an important love-my-job-element.
“Is there one thing you’re currently doing that will result in significantly more impact or results this time next year? What is your marketing asking people to do …first?” After a brief pause I added, “Name your top three marketing activities.”
Like Rachelle or Karen, most clients resist narrowing their focus.
Most businesses use 10 to 12 marketing tactics regularly. When we work together, I ask about every one of your marketing activities and then together we take the first step to marketing success.
“Constraint Fuels Creativity”
Tracking Wonder guru Jeffrey Davis likes to say, “Constraint fuels creativity.”
As you begin to clarify your marketing purpose, you may narrow your marketing tactics. For example, just because you’re building an online course doesn’t mean you must or even should promote it now.
To use our toothpaste example, if you’re deciding what type of toothpaste, you begin with who you are (i.e., a child has different requirements from an adult) and what you hope to gain: fresh breath, less sensitivity, more whitening, fewer cavities, tarter control and so on.
In both the world of toothpaste and the world of marketing, you can ask/answer questions to evaluate the fit of various options:
- What am I doing now?
- Is it working?
- What do I need to do better?
- What one thing, if I did more of it, could dramatically impact my results?
- Are there things I should stop doing?
- What are the core benefits of doing business with me/my company?
- How does this project fit my overall mission?
Although 62 options sounds like a lot, there are over 300 marketing tactics. It’s easier to face the long marketing aisle with a partner who is on your side of the desk. A marketing mentor can help you see the things around you that you can’t see. It’s really valuable to have someone with a different perspective to brainstorm with, to help you pick a solution that could work and elevate your priorities from merely sorted to effective. Frankly, that’s the first step to marketing success.
What if it doesn’t work?
Producing different results begins with trying different things. Rachelle educated me about a term used by health coaches. “Crowding out,” is a technique in which you eat so much good food you no longer have room for the bad junk. Maybe you could crowd out ineffective or outdated marketing techniques.
Remember the definition of crazy – doing the same things and expecting different results? All change requires management and monitoring, what some (like Jeffrey Davis and the Tracking Wonder community) refer to as prototyping.
If you continue to focus on the doing rather than the big picture of what matters most, you won’t even be able to imagine a different, brighter future of possibility.
Stir the Ethers
Begin. Take a step toward the future you envision for yourself. Get in motion. The most tangible result of being in motion is you can steer! Take the first step to steer towards effective marketing and success.
