You know marketing is a key part of growing your business.
But most business owners are “doing marketing” all wrong and don’t even know it.
Here’s a classic example we see over and over again:
You take an online course for creating “Facebook Ads That Convert”…
Run a promotion on your website…
Throw together a landing page…
Launch your amazing Facebook ad…
Aaaaannnndddd… nothing happens.
A few clicks…
Maybe a sale or two.
And you end up spending more money than you make.
Sound familiar?
Online courses teach you tactics that should lead to a specific result.
But often, the results vary wildly from what was promised and may not even be what you really needed to move your business forward.
That’s because you’re stringing together tactics to make a plan and hoping to get good results.
But plans without strategy are worthless.
A plan is a series of tactics. But…
Tactics alone won’t help you grow.
Tactics are items you put on your todo list like “create a Facebook ad” or “send out my newsletter”. They only get you so far.
Before you can create a plan and know what steps to take, you have to know what direction you’re going in and why. That’s where creating a strategy comes in.
Strategy is designed from market research. It focuses on finding the right customer, serving the right product and making a profit.
You need to have a marketing strategy before you can build a marketing plan.
So when you throw together a landing page and a Facebook ad, you’re not really doing marketing…
You’re just advertising.
So what is marketing?
Here’s the simplest definition of marketing you’ll ever read:
If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying “Circus Coming to the Showground Saturday,” that’s advertising.
If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion.
If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed and the local newspaper writes a story about it, that’s publicity.
And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.
If the town’s citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and, ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that’s sales.
And if you planned the whole thing, that’s marketing. ~Author Unknown
To have effective marketing — marketing that actually grows your business — you need to design a strategy first.
Good strategy demands research and in-depth thinking.
Do you have a strategy or are you just stringing together tactics?
If you’re ready to stop wasting money on tactics that fail to bring you results, we can help.
At Left Right Labs, our GET CLEAR Workshop is a deep dive into where to find customers, when to engage with them, and how to keep them coming back for more.
We’ve helped clients just like you build the strategy they need to stand out in a crowd, attract new customers, and build more revenue.
To learn more about how we can work with you to craft an effective marketing strategy, click here to book a free strategy session with us.
We’ll take the guesswork out of your online marketing today!
