Anyone can start a Facebook account. Anyone can get a website built. Anyone can go and buy an iPhone. Who cares if you can buy these things or rip off other people’s technology or ideas.
The hard part awaits everyone. You still have to pay the brain bill and make it work. The hard part is making it all come together and work. Your tools are not impressive. They are not a secret weapon. Fancy marketing automation, SEO or adwords are not going to be a differentiator.
Bringing the pieces together takes time, focus and talent. If you are not committed to learning, studying and iterating, then success will continue to be elusive.
Here are the mindsets that today’s marketing requires:
- Process not events. You have to think about the many steps a buyer takes and ensure you are relevant, personal and timely in your approach, contact and delivery. Steps are dependent on each other to build a continuous and seamless experience. If you only have one step – the close – you are in trouble. The world will ignore you. You are spam.
- Systems not tools. Tools obsolesce very quickly today. One tool will not do the entire job either. Creating a system is hard work. It takes thinking. A robust system outlasts the obsolescence of tools and allows for flexbility and interchangeability in technology.
- Strategy not busyness. You may feel good spamming a lot of people or having a bunch of outbound salespeople. There’s lots of activity. But what are the results? How many people did you irritate or damage your reputation with while trying to find the right person to do business with? Strategy means thinking through who your ideal customer is and working with the few instead of chasing the many. It is results thinking.
We have an efficient marketplace. The gimmicks are easily sniffed out and marginalized. We hate being sold and gravitate to those that get it and provide extreme value.
As you look at how you are approaching business, the hard part may be to stop the insanity – the things that are not working. You may very well need your own revolution.
Don’t be fooled. Tricks, SEO, and gimmicks only prolong the inevitable. You will have to pay the price eventually for doing the hard work of bringing it all together if you want to truly get results over time.
What’s holding you back?
