28 May Do Overs

Remember Do Overs? When I was a kid and we didn’t like how something turned out, we would ask for a Do Over. To have the ball pitched again if we missed, or, if it was a board game, to roll the dice another time. The hope, of course, was that the second time would be better.

The marketing process is kind of like that.

We start with strategy. Then implementation of the strategy. Then we evaluate to see how well we did. And then…drum roll please…….it’s time for a Do Over.

Marketing is not an exact science. It happens in the real world where there are a lot of uncontrolled variables. Like price, or budget or competition. So we figure out what we think is the best thing to do… using research or our brains or a combination of both. Then we go off and do it, and see if we meet our objectives. If we didn’t, we try to figure out why not, what we could have done better and then we have our Do Over.

What does this mean for you?

1.    There is no such thing as a perfect marketing plan. There is always room for improvement. And even if you get great results from what you are doing, it still might need to change. We constantly need to attract new people into the pipeline and reaching those new people might require a different message or tactic. Marketing requires constant fine-tuning.

2.    Any marketing is better than no marketing. Even if it takes you sideways instead of forward. Its still movement and there is something to be learned from it. The worst thing you can do is nothing. Because nothing achieves nothing.

So you gotta stick a toe in. Really. It’s the only way. And only then do you get the Do Over.