There’s a well-known saying about the danger of “assuming.” Since it’s so well-known, I won’t elaborate…
Here’s what I will say: When it comes to making assumptions about what works in marketing, it pains me when CEOs and other small business leaders come to me with premeditated assumptions about what they presume WILL work for business growth—and what just isn’t “right” for your business.
Here are just a few of those assumptions I’ve heard over the years:
- I have to pay to reach the audience I want to find.
- I need to talk to *everyone* who is a potential customer (or could be!).
- Whatever I've done in the past, it's worked… well, sort of. So, I'm just going to keep doing it.
- A formal marketing strategy is really for enterprise level businesses, which means…
- It's just TOO MUCH for my business.
First Things First
Douglas Adams, author of the revelled The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is widely quoted as saying: “The most misleading assumptions are the ones you don't even know you're making.”
While the first step is to accept that marketing assumptions are exactly that, we then have to look at the facts.
1.) Some issues in your business cannot be solved by marketing, and yet many business owners turn to marketing to solve those exact problems.
For example, if your CRM isn’t set up to work seamlessly, there’s nothing marketing can do to make up for it.
2.) Some companies define a role of marketing that’s not consonant with their business goals. “We want marketing to do ABC, but we also want to achieve XYZ.”
3.) Some businesses confuse marketing with sales—or see marketing and sales as silos; completely separate. You can see how the latter leaves a lot of room for dropping the ball.
And one final piece of reality we all have to accept:
Marketing efficiency won’t happen without focused business goals in order to drive marketing where it’s going to work best for your business. Not the competition’s business. Not what any marketing service provider deems to be best.
YOUR unique business.
Leave the Assumptions Behind
If your company needs a more DEFINED marketing strategy for growth, here are some resources to help:
1) See more videos on marketing strategy on our YouTube channel—and don’t forget to subscribe so you get the new ones in your inbox.
“Some issues in your business cannot be solved by marketing.”
2) Check out the Strategy Lab to help businesses break the vicious cycle of random acts of marketing through a proven three-step framework to help them maximize every marketing dollar they spend.
4) If your team needs a strategy primer to finesse your current strategy roadmap, get in touch so we can set up time to discuss timing and cost so you're in good shape moving into 2022.
