Marketing isn’t an exact science. There are no cast iron guarantees that any particular tool or tactic will work every time. However that isn’t to say marketing is like throwing darts! Not at all. Indeed the opportunities to learn, and therefore improve, are endless. However you have to embrace that, and several things are important in that regard.
- Mistakes are inevitable – everyone makes them. It is how you learn from them and how you chose to apply that learning that is key
- Perfection is probably unattainable – striving for perfection can cause inaction. Nothing gets done until it is 100% perfect and nothing ever is so everything stays in “development” mode
- Commitment is vital – when you chose a marketing tactic, commit to giving it your full attention. Entering into anything with “I’ll give it a try” is not a recipe for perseverance
- Measurement – keep track of what you are doing and the results being achieved. This assumes you have a goal in mind of course! Without knowing what is happening you will struggle to make appropriate changes as necessary
- Continuous improvement – even when things are going well, review them. How well did they work? What could I do more of, or what should I do differently?
Marketing tactics are rarely “fire and forget”. Success requires you keep a clear eye on your business and marketing goals and make sure everything you are doing is contributing to them. It is fun to learn. Planning is important, but plans themselves change almost as soon as implementation starts. Keep going and learning what works as you go.
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5 Responses
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kevin Dervin and Marketing Action , Jerry Smith. Jerry Smith said: New blog post: Marketing – learn and change http://bit.ly/1UND6W [...]
Posted on October 30th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Great soundbites on marketing strategy! Where “Commitment is Vital”, how does one define the commitment period to apply? Are there rules of thumb to be used for the various marketing media or approaches.
Thanks for the succinct reminders of what to do as well as promoting flexibility and willingness to learn from mistakes.
Posted on October 31st, 2009 at 10:15 am
Hi Maureen
Commitment is an interesting concept and I am not sure it is necessarily one that can be subjected to a time constraint. I will develop that in today’s (November 3rd) post, but whilst it may be possible to determine how long to run a particular campaign, the commitment to overall success is vital and ongoing.
In other words the tools are important, and you need to commit to them, but the overall commitment to marketing success needs to be there to allow you to decide whether the tactic is successful or not. For that you need continuous review of performance and the willingness to adjust your course.
It is difficult to give rules of thumb for marketing tactics and tools are so many variables at work. Most require many months of consistent application and I would argue that some are permanent – networking for example.
Thanks for your comments!
Jerry
Posted on November 3rd, 2009 at 10:58 am
[...] · November 3, 2009 · Print This Article The post from a few days ago on Marketing – learn and change generated an interesting comment thread. Rather than add a huge reply it seemed more appropriate to [...]
Posted on November 3rd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Maureen,
Thanks for joining the discussion and for your insightful question.
I’ve posted some of my thoughts on Jerry’s newer post on Marketing Commitment (http://www.marketingactionclub.com/blog/marketing-commitment/)
All my Best!
Kevin
Posted on November 3rd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
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