I heard this phrase from a business owner recently: We have always done it this way! I have been involved in marketing for well over three decades and I have heard that phrase uttered in marketing meetings many times before. It is typically spoken by managers or C-level executives, but most commonly from business creators who have been at it for a while. Their success is built upon their hard work and ingenuity. After a few years of growth, they all have called in a marketing team from the outside. Why? Because they have hit a ceiling with their own efforts and want to grow past where they currently are – and in many cases, they are stuck. This is what happens when the tugboat becomes an anchor.

Let me tell you about tugboats. Whether you know it or not, they impact your life every day. Tugboats help much larger ships safely get to their correct dock in a harbor. They move barges full of goods that we all use, oil tankers, cargo ships – you name it. I remember being in Boston a few years ago and watching the tugboats at work.

Tugboats are essential when you are in a harbor. They are to the seafaring world what forklifts are to a warehouse. They move things to the correct location and do so efficiently. But what if you are not in a harbor? What if a large ship is out on the open ocean? Would a tugboat be of any assistance for such a ship whose captain wants to run their engines at full speed and get moving? Absolutely not! In fact, at that point, the tugboat is just in the way. If they are locked up on a big ship, they become an anchor that hinders the large ship from moving at their potential.

There is a parallel in business, particularly with marketing. The truth is that marketing has to change over time because we all sell to people. People are fickle. Their attitudes change with trending opinions. What worked yesterday might not work as well today. Marketing has to navigate the waters of change.

How do you do this? First, understand your customers very well. If you can categorize them into demographic groups, do so. This will help you get your arms around trending attitudes in various groups. Second, recognize that any marketing message will grow stale over time. You need to keep an eye on the reaction you are getting from your customers. When their enthusiasm starts to wane, change the message. Third, delivery methods have also changed. This is very true of specific demographic groups. Younger demographics do not like to read. In fact, if you can deliver your message to them in a very short video, all the better. This is why social media such as YouTube and Instagram have been so successful in reaching young people. They prefer a phone to a laptop. Not so with an older demographic. If you give them a book to read, they will read it. They trend towards Facebook as their social medium of choice. They would rather use a computer than a phone. Your marketing has to adjust to their trends. It is all a matter of understanding and responding to your target market.

What if you are working for a tugboat and you want to launch out into deeper waters? It is very hard for the owner of a business – particularly if they started the business – to let go of what they did to be successful in the first place. Many of them have so much of their identity tied up in their company, it is hard to distinguish the characteristics of the person from the characteristics of the business. But if I could go back to the tugboat analogy once again, no ship every launches from the dock at full speed. It needs the tugboat to get it going. That is the role of the owner. They start the process. It is the job of the tugboat to also let the larger ship go at some point so they can do what they were designed to do – namely, move great distances at a higher speed. A good marketing plan can help you with this concept. It maps out a course for your marketing. It has times of evaluation and adjustment for those changing trends that are bound to happen. It finds value for tugboats and larger ships.

If you are finding that the tugboat of your company is becoming the anchor that is holding your business growth back, it is time to reevaluate your business strategy. Too many times we build strategy to suit the owner, not the target market. Keep in mind that the customer is really the boss. They decide what sells and what does not. So build your strategy around their needs and find out where the tugboat best fits into that strategy.