Scattershot Marketing Is Wasting Your Budget: Here’s What To Do Instead
If you spend any time on the internet, you know that everyone has an opinion about what marketing works.
“Post valuable social media content.”
“Use AI.”
“Start a blog.”
“Run paid ads.”
But I’ll let you in on a secret… blanket advice is useless. There is no “silver bullet.”
Before jumping on any bandwagon, there are two key questions you should be asking yourself:
How much time and money is my team spending on marketing every month?
How confident are we that our current marketing initiatives are getting real results?
So often, marketing can be reactive, never actually leading to outcomes that impact your business in a meaningful, scalable way.
Marketing Will Always Waste Money, Without A Strategy
Does this sound like your company’s marketing team?
Monday - 4 hours spent creating a new brochure
Tuesday - 3.5 hours creating a new landing page and website form that just sits there (because there’s no website traffic)
Wednesday - 3 hours writing an email newsletter with boring company updates that no one reads
Thursday - 6 hours drafting social media content which, when posted, gets 2 likes
Friday - 2 hours in a brainstorming session with the team on how to make this all better, with no clear action items or accountability
And:
Thousands per month on an agency, website support, social media posts, a graphic designer, etc. With none of it working together strategically to build momentum.
Yikes.
That’s a lot of time and money that gets 0 traction. This is an example, but I’ve seen this play out many times.
So, what should you do about it?
You don’t need to be on the latest social media channel. Or jump to the newest “hack.”
Or pay an expensive agency for months and cross your fingers that it works. Instead, you need to get clear on your goals to create a strategy that’s right for your business. How? Start with these three key steps.
Three Key Steps To Building Your Marketing Strategy
#1: Identify Your Business Objective
Without a clear goal for your marketing to support, that’s about as impactful as using a map without a destination—you’ll never know whether you “got there.”
Then - think about the best way to reach your goal using specific marketing initiatives. An example goal: Increase repeat customers by 10% by the end of Q2.
Track leading indicators as you go. What this means - before you get those repeat customers, you need to know what data to look for sooner rather than later.
For example, if you use email marketing, before you get customers, you need to track your email open and engagement rates. Collecting data along the way provides insight into what’s working and what’s not.
#2: Determine Your Strategy
A strategy focuses your limited resources so you avoid trying to market a million different ways (which never works.)
Continuing our example, to increase repeat customers, a strategy could be to launch a campaign targeting previous customers.
As part of your strategy, you’ll want to identify:
How will we get in front of potential repeat customers?
How will we nurture relationships with them & stay top of mind?
Is there a clear sales process once we do get in front of the right people?
Just as important as what you will focus on with your strategy, be clear about what can wait. Yes, it might be a great idea to start a podcast, but is that realistic right now based on your resources? Consider what will be most effective to help you reach your goal.
#3: Decide What Tactics Support Your Strategy
Tactics are the specific actions that support your goal and align with your strategy.
As an example, you might have a great email database and decide to send marketing or sales emails to past customers to ask about their current needs.
Another tactic idea for the repeat business example could be a social media campaign asking customers to share their success stories.
This reminds them of the quality experience working with you and provides your company with social proof (other people saying you’re great is far more meaningful than you saying you’re great).
Identify realistic and impactful tactics that support your strategy.
Without objectives, strategy, and tactics identified, you’ll continue with whack-a-mole, directionless marketing. Which, unfortunately, never magically improves.
Focus on what matters with your marketing, and forget the rest.
Cheer to simplicity,
Natalie
