Marketing magic Bullet

Posted by Jerry Smith · December 1, 2009 · Print This Article

I suppose it is natural to want maximum gain for minimal effort. After all, it is nice to have success in any walk of life. What is less clear sometimes, when looking at examples of successful businesses, athletes, teachers, doctors etc. is how much effort and persistence went into achieving that success.

Whilst there may be fleeting examples of “overnight success” these are relatively few and far between, once examined further. This is true of marketing a small business or professional practice. You have what it takes to be successful, as long as you are not out there looking for quick fixes or that elusive magic bullet.

Beware the temptations! You will have seen the variations on the snake oil salesmen, and those can be fairly easy to spot and avoid, but pay close attention to the natural tendency to go for the quick success. For example:

Virtually all the marketing tools and tactics you can employ, rely on solid groundwork. Planning in other words. That headline may be beguiling, but most often you will still need to answer the fundamental questions – who is your target market? What is your uniqueness? Why would anyone hire you? There isn’t a one size fits all solution for every business. What works for them may not work for you and you need to understand the basics of your message and audience to figure that out.
Some work is required – it’s tempting to think you can have a successful marketing play without putting in significant, dedicated effort. You can’t!
You have to be the decision maker and the driver – there are many, many resources out there to help you with your marketing. In the final analysis however, it is down to YOU to make it happen. Hiring people to help is a great idea but you need to be in control. It is very common to think: “Phew – now someone is managing my (website – insert marketing tactic here!) I can let them get on with it and all will be well”. You can get close to that if you have the planning taken care of, but you still need to plan, review, tweak, discuss, amend etc. YOU need to – it is your business.

In so many things it is tempting to go for the quick solution. Losing weight is a classic example. The long term results come about from committing to changes in lifestyle and those are long term and take time. It is the same in marketing. That isn’t to say you won’t get some quick results; depending on your business you may well, but the point is you have set the appropriate context, know why those results came about and are in a position to repeat the effort.

Work hard at it, invest time, avoid the temptation to grab at the next unbeatable offer. Applying consistent effort to your marketing efforts will pay great dividends.

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