Marketing doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective.
In fact, more often than not, overly complicated and hyped up marketing plans simply hide the fact that things aren’t really working that well.
The problem is, it’s far too easy to end up doing EVERYTHING, but that’s rarely (if ever) the right thing to do.
The Problem With The “Do Everything” Approach
There are 2 major issues with the doing everything approach.
1. What’s working?
The first problem is that when you do everything, it becomes a lot more difficult to track what’s working and what’s not.
Did a customer buy because of a blog post they read, a video they saw, a social media update their friend posted, or an ad they clicked on?
The more pieces you add to the puzzle the harder it is to sort out the winners from the losers and really drill down to figure out what your greatest revenue producing activities are.
2. Spread too thin.
It doesn’t matter whether your budget is $1000, $100,000, $1,000,000 or $100,000,000 all companies have marketing budgets (at least they should).
The problem with doing everything is that it can mean spreading yourself too thin.
The reality is that some of your marketing efforts are going to end up providing better returns than others.
And when you do eventually stumble across your businesses marketing gold mine, you want to be able to mine it for all it’s worth.
And this becomes a lot harder to do if your resources are being allocated to 15+ different campaigns and projects.
Back To Basics Marketing Strategy
As this is the minimalists guide to marketing, it only makes sense to keep this post short and sweet. So let’s get right to the action points.
Here are 3 steps to simplify your marketing, and do more with less.
1. Market
The first step in simplifying your businesses marketing is in finding clarity and having a well defined target market.
You should be able to easily answer the question “Who are your customers?” (And no, “anyone with money” isn’t a suitable answer)
Whether you want to simplify your marketing or not, you really want to get laser focused on exactly who your target market is.
This will allow you to better connect with, and design marketing messages for those customers out there that are the most likely to become your true fans, loyal advocates and brand ambassadors.
This is where developing a customer avatar really comes in handy.
2. Message
Ask yourself this question about your business…
“What do our customers care about, that we do better than anyone else?”
You see, it’s pointless to focus on doing something better than anyone else, that your customers don’t even care about – and yet this happens all the time!
All too often we let ourselves get distracted by the latest “shiny new object” and forget about focusing on what matters most to our customers, which can be different in every business and industry (so it makes sense to do a little research every now and then).
Also, framing the question this way takes the focus off your business, and puts it where it belongs, on your customers needs and wants.
Your business exists to provide a solution to your customers problem, and your message needs to emphasize that.
Marketing Fact: The more value you provide, the better your business will do.
If you succeed in defining your target market, and perfect the message you’re sending out to the world, you’re well on your way to creating the perfect marketing strategy.
3. Medium
It doesn’t matter what you say if nobody’s listening.
It also doesn’t matter how many people hear, if they’re not the right people for your business.
This is why this third aspect is every bit as important as the first two.
You need to be sure that you’re communicating in a way that best lines up with your target market and where and how they consume their information.
To do this you
- First need to identify your target market (market)
- Then decide what you do that actually matters to them (message)
- Finally, determine where they are so you can reach them there (medium)
ADVISORY: The biggest and most common problem occurs when these steps are taken out of order.
But when you get these steps right, your marketing suddenly becomes a lot simpler, easier to manage, and starts providing a real return on investment, which makes the expense a lot easier to justify.
Overcomplicated marketing done wrong is a waste of time, energy, and money.
Marketing done right brings in new business, customers, and revenues which makes it an incredible valuable investment.
