Today, I’m going to share one of the key factors behind terrible, ineffective marketing with you. Don’t worry, I’m also going to show you how to stop it from hurting your business.
First, the basics
If you want something to work you need to do things in the correct order.
For example, the correct way to hit a target is to use the ready, aim, fire approach. You get the weapon ready, you then take aim at the target and finally you fire. Now imagine someone doing that in the wrong order, using a ready, fire, aim approach.
Firing without aiming means they will never hit the target.
Small business owners and the need for speed
I see small business owners using that ready, fire, aim approach with their marketing all the time — making it impossible for them to succeed.
Here are some common examples:
- They send people marketing emails before getting permission to do so.
- They begin a project before putting the foundations in place.
- They start building social networks before deciding who they want in their community.
- They try to sell to people before they have earned that person’s trust.
- They expect word of mouth publicity before giving people a story worth sharing.
Take some time today to look at any of your marketing activities, which are not generating the results you want. In almost every case, you can massively improve your results by adopting a strict, ready, aim, fire approach.
How can I be so sure? Because 27 years in marketing has proven to me, that marketing success comes from doing the right things, correctly.