Marketing can seem as complex as Einstein’s theory of relativity at times. Many people look at small business marketing just as they look at a board full of formulae and consider it arcane and incomprehensible!
- Attracting prospects and building a relationship with them
- Transforming prospects into customers and keeping them as customers
- Measuring the process and outcomes so you can do it again and get better at it
Anything else you hear relates back to one of those three. If it doesn’t, it probably isn’t worth doing.
So let’s consider what Einstein might have to say about marketing by examining some of his lost papers with explanations of what he actually meant by his statements…
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
Do you find yourself just adding more hours to your work day to do more of the same when it comes to marketing in hopes of producing better results? Look at point number three above… If it isn’t working (and you’re measuring right?) than it’s time to rethink and adjust.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”
Take a step back and examine how you’re designing and executing your marketing. Considering points 1-3 above, rethink whether you’re current way of marketing is the best path to produce the results you want. Think outside the box and be creative.
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new”
Great point, Albert! Make mistakes, try new things, and measure results. Reinforce the methods that worked and drop those that don’t.
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”
Do you have a dozen projects ongoing? Are you trying a half dozen new marketing techniques at a time? Or my favorite, do you have multiple to do lists and organizers that take more time to update than completing the actions recorded within would? Keep it simple and direct. Stay focused. Measure. Measure. Measure.
Frequently, it’s the lack of clear outcomes that cause so many of our digital marketing problems. What caused customers to buy? What brought them here in the first place? If you don’t know, it’s easy to keep doing everything because if you stop doing an action, it might be the one that was working. Don’t fall into this trap, measure and be ruthless. Pinterest might be loads of fun to browse, but if it isn’t producing business outcomes for you, do it some other time!
“Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves”
Keep your focus and attention on what is important! In small business marketing or, this would be akin to doing a half dozen different techniques at once. Focus on two or three methods and get great at them. If you get them efficient and automated, then consider adding another and so on. But don’t do to much at once and be average at everything.
Marketing should be fun and effective. After all, you’re sharing the value you bring with the people who would most benefit from that value. What’s not fun about that?
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Michael Nelson
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