As we move into a brand new year, I would like to share one of the simplest, yet most valuable pieces of advice I know with you.
Don’t mistake movement for progress!
Progress is not the result of hard work. If hard work were the secret to success, our grandparents would have been millionaires!Progress only comes when we work hard doing the right things. However, if we keep rowing that boat in the wrong direction, no matter how hard we row; we will never get where we want to be.
Before you invest your time or money on any marketing activities in 2009, make sure you are doing the right kind of marketing for your business – before you worry about doing it correctly. For example; you ‘might’ be doing a mail shot correctly – yet by using email marketing instead of paper-based mailings, you can see better, faster results for a fraction of the cost and time of a traditional mail shot.
You might be doing that mail shot correctly, but it may not be the right form of marketing for what you want to achieve – your outcome!
Making progress
I suggest you look at all the marketing activities you currently engage in and then, one by one, find out if there isn’t a better, higher-leverage alternative for you to use in 2009. There’s a list of marketing ideas here, which are extremely effective, just to get you started.
Over to you
What have you found to be the most effective forms of marketing for your business over the past year? Share your experiences and leave a comment below.
I agree with the hard working. It is better to work smart and pays of a lot better! Still work extremely hard but it’s like doing 100 cold calls with little result or a smart marketing plan that has much higher results.
Think a lot about what you do, dont just act!
Have fun, be interesting, focus on one client at a time and remember, a happy client might tell 10 others.
Regardless of the marketing vehicle I am using taking my time to try to be inclusive instead of exclusive. i.e. being grateful for those who connect and reach out to you.
I especially think that organic hands on marketing is good. I contribute articles to my community newspapers and try to encourage people in the offline world to connect with me in the online world and vice versa. Encourage people who do most of their marketing online to remember that offline is where you build the experiences of substance that you can write about
Like your simple but useful spoonfed posts, btw.
I agree — and think that its good to switch thing up and see what works best.
I work for a public transportation company and for our Don’t drink & drive free new years service we did a lot of social marketing, as well as the standard methods we use last year (our control)…I interested to get back into work and see if the usage increased.
You’re always right on with your comments Jim. “What you measure is what you get.”
Thanks for all your tips.
Great Blog! It took me a while this last year to realize my time was worth more than anything else. I started working smarter. Although I only started social networking in November 2008 I still closed the year with a dozen deals just from my network alone.
Good words.
- Focus
- Dominate your niche by being specific.
- Establish your own category in your niche
- Be extremely clear and specific in your goals, your market and your target audience.
- Who is your ideal customer, who are you marketing to?
Jim,
I appreciate your comments. I see many of our Chamber of Commerce members spending too much money on the wrong type of advertising/marketing. Some of our most successful members receive a much higher return on their marketing investment by being creative.
As an example, a Realtor gave a $30 “tip” at a local kids car-wash fundraiser. What a waste of money….not. He sold a house to one of the parents within a few weeks. $30 in print would have never been noticed.
Another member bought an antique fire truck, painted on his logo, and goes to all the fairs and parades. He is known throughout the area a fun guy that gives back to the community.
On my own part, we are bringing our chamber into the social networking world by creating a LinkedIn group, chamber blog, twitter accounts, and a chamber centric networking site at mynorthmasonchamber.com.
Hopefully, this will be “working smarter” and staying current with technology.
Frank
Jim:
Great distinction between effort and results. If you “start with the end in mind” and define clearly your desired future state (greater share of wallet, improved brand equity, awareness in a new segment, etc) it will be easier to determine if you efforts are progress or just movement. In any case, you should measure your desired output variable, both before and after your efforts. IF YOU CAN’T MEASURE IT, YOU CAN’T IMPROVE IT.
From my experience, some of the highest impact , lowest cost marketing messages can come when you are first to market using an alternative channel. Costs are lower and you are more differentiated from the pack. A business I used to lead, GE Sealants & Adhesives, was the first Fortune 500 business to sponsor “Professional Bass Anglers” of all things. For less than 1/20th of the cost to get a small placement on our NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth, we were able to get the entire boat and experience of leading Angler Brent Chapman. It was a risky move for us, but our research determined that the targeted demographics of Pro Bass fishing overlapped very closely with that of NASCAR and the cost per impression was significantly less.
Don’t be afraid to try s new channel or vehicle if research tells you that it hits your sweet spot of influencers.
Best,
@JeffreyJDavis
Jeff would you call that method saturation. It has always been my belief that once a method gets put in a book or is spoken of among many people it loses its effectiveness. Too many people doing the same thing…the first guy to dance on youtube became famous…the 15000th guy does not…
What you did was take what someone else did (nascar marketing), found an effective parallel by looking at commonalities and than marketed based on the shared characteristic. Genius..
Thanks for a great article, this will really help me focus my efforts for the New Year!
Using social media to create real tangible opportunities has been the biggest difference maker for me in 2008. I used Linkedin to differentiate myself from the pack and received an amazing job opportunity with a Fortune 500 IT company. I didn’t even apply to the company website because I was able to cut through the clutter and get to the recruiter on Linkedin.
I’ve also been able to set up a series of interviews with thought leaders in my niche that would otherwise have been very hard to land without social media.
My favorite part has to be the relationship building present in social media. It’s the people I meet, collaboration and shared experience that I find most valuable.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Something I try to remember as I market myself and my services is that relationships and trust are what ultimately win the day. People do business with people, and they typically prefer to work with people they know and trust.
There are lots of great tools available to help companies and people build their brands, but it can be easy to lose sight of the basic principle of building relationships with people.
As I market myself and advise my clients on how to market their products or services, relationships is almost always the goal.
Some interesting ideas here.
Just remember, marketing requires the ‘testing and measuring’ of EVERYTHING you do.
This should help:
http://jimsmarketingblog.com/2008/09/11/how-to-test-and-measure-your-marketing/
Enjoy!
Jim, as usual, you are not only on track but powering the engine. You words about our grandparents and their hard work hit home. I have always believed in a strong work ethic but you have taught me that that won’t amount to “a hill of beans” if it is wasted energy! Leverage,equality and “rowing in the right direction” are making great progress for me. Thanks Jim
I think this is definitely a problem a lot of (bureaucratic) businesses run into.
Great advice here.
I so much appreciate your thoughts here Jim – I’ve spent the last two years re-aligning myself and my business for the 2nd time in the last 6 years. It’s been interesting – first 2 years were spent “recovering” from my first career, second 2 years spent experimenting in a whole new field with a sticks & bricks art gallery healing arts center & the past two focusing solely on developing my unique gifts and exploring these new ways of connecting with people – For what it’s worth I’ve found that my guidance (from the “upstairs” team) seems to be the only thing that really points me in the direction I need to go on a regular and consistent basis. There are way too many “rabbit holes” that we can find ourselves caught in thinking that we are moving ahead and really we are just moving in circles. Thanks for providing great information and a place to connect and share! Peace and many blessings, Amethyst
[...] Jim Connolly on his blog talks about the difference between movement and progress. His point is that we better [...]
Very defining article, Jim. From personal experience, I’ve seen workers that ‘moved’ constantly, but at the end of the day were profiting little.
What’s worked best for me in my business marketing? When we sit down with a potential client and show them how we market their property (whether in print, online, etc.) and couple that with tips to spruce up the home as well as over 70 years of combined experience between my real estate agents, it’s almost a slam dunk every time.
For my firm, it’s about building personal relationships with the client.
I absolutely agree. I am a new and growing business (3 months young) and I have found the various outlets for getting my business name to the public prove to be very helpful. Only time will tell, but right now, I focus on 3 primary avenues that all lead to the main road.
[...] Blogger Jim Connolly on his blog talks about the difference between movement and progress. His point is that we better be focused on things that work and forget about the things that don’t. Progress is not the result of hard work. If hard work were the secret to success, our grandparents would have been millionaires! Progress only comes when we work hard doing the right things! [...]
[...] it’s good to get things done, but not if speed comes before quality. Otherwise, we risk confusing movement with progress and end up working hard, yet achieving little by way of results. If you found this information [...]