Randomness is sometimes enticing; there’s a spontaneity about it that feels creative and bold. 
Until, that is, you’re faced with burning questions around tepid results: what went wrong? Why didn’t the plan yield return? It’s like eating too much cake or drinking too much champagne.
The spending hangover is hell to pay.
Do You Know Randomness When You See It?
Many of the companies I work with have indulged. The promises from marketing specialists, the lure of new MarTech, or sheer envy around what the competition is doing have spurred activity that didn’t deliver.
There simply wasn’t an organized set of objectives and sound strategies to bring it all home.
As a result, they've found themselves stuck in a cycle of wasteful decision-making. Here are some common missteps:
- Investing in paid first, instead of optimizing organic or owned media
- Literally ignoring their owned media or refusing to “fix” those assets to be useful
- Jumping the gun on pricing decisions, without considering brand value
- Becoming consumed with what the competition is doing--and thus ignoring their own priorities
- Resisting change because it seems “too hard.” Why rock the boat?
- Getting distracted by new, shiny tactics
I’m sympathetic. The latest and greatest martech solution can be very seductive. So can the anticipation of a website redesign, a (too) expensive lead magnet, or the idea of rebranding the company. Surely a mission building exercise will fix everything… right?
Finding “CEO Confidence”
At times, I encounter resistance by CEOs and CFOs to investing the time to develop an anchored, organized strategic marketing roadmap. But I know from experience, once they do, there’s a big, deep breath.
“The latest and greatest martech solution can be very seductive.”
There’s a plan to follow, realistic timeframes to measure against, and a defined set of expectations they can share with their team. This yields “CEO Confidence:” the freedom to lead because there’s a journey that’s been mapped out, approved, and defined for everyone.
The good news for these smart leaders is, the answers are right in front of them… In their business models. Their expected revenue per new customer. The length of their average purchase cycle. Their underutilized email database. The insights they get from their sales teams. Their website analytics. It’s all there.
Frame, Focus, Formulate: Planning for the Long View
If you have a roadmap for your marketing, it’s much easier to commit to what to tackle first--because you understand the long view right from the very start. In the Marketing Strategy Lab, we start with a clean slate--then work through all the steps to get you on the right path by:
- FRAMING what will drive (or obstruct) success
- FOCUSING priorities and strategies
- FORMULATING plans, resources, and timetables
If you’re ready to abandon the random, let’s talk. We’ll know quickly if a view from outside your organization can help. The Lab may be just what you need, but we can also talk about working with me as a fractional CMO to bring objective, strategic order to your marketing investments.
Still not sure? Listen to my free training on how I help small and mid-sized businesses move from those Random Acts of Marketing to a plan you can believe in and commit to.
