Marketing – things change, but what matters stays the same
In a recent interview, author of The 4 Hour Workweek Tim Ferris spoke with Marie Forleo about marketing advice. I’ve picked out a couple of points he made which I feel are essential to successful marketing for any business, but are often overlooked.
Business leaders often feel overwhelmed at how much marketing has changed and continues to change at a rapid pace – but the truth is, the vehicle is less important than the message.
Tim says: “My tendency is to look at things that have not changed. Let’s say you want to learn to draw. You can use a crayon, you can use a pencil, you can use a pen… You could think of all those tools… as different types of social media – but at the end of the day you have to know how to draw!”
When it comes to marketing a business, it is better to choose one relevant medium, such as LinkedIn for professionals and B2B, and learn how to do that exceptionally well, than to be across all the latest platforms but do them poorly or inconsistently (which also means poorly). A strong marketing plan focuses on a small number of strategically-chosen activities supporting a well-defined set of brand messages.
Clear communication of well-thought-out messages that fit your audience is more important than what social media platform you put them on.
Tim: “So for instance, in the world of social, that might really be investing in how to write copy… learning how to communicate with words!”
You can invest a lot of time and money into Facebook on the advice of an expert who says it’s the perfect fit for your industry… but if your content is boring, unclear, not what your target market cares about, or not presented in words and images that resonate with them – you’ve wasted your time and money on Facebook.
Rather than feel overwhelmed with how much there is to learn in marketing, and how quickly things change all over again – learn how to get the fundamentals of your business communications right. A little bit of regular, spot-on brand communication will be much more effective than a whole lot of rubbish.
