I did something earlier this week I have always wanted to do. You could say I checked an item off my bucket list. I did a rim-to-rim hike of the Grand Canyon. I have hiked the Canyon twice prior to this, but never a North Rim to South Rim adventure. It was both challenging and exhilarating. It required a lot of training, planning and a couple of friends who were willing to do the hike with me.

What goals are you trying to achieve? When we are talking about business, this is the time of year when plans are being laid for the next year. How do you reach your growth goals as a company without a plan? This is where marketing comes into play.

I find there are a lot of similarities between the way I went about this mountainous hike and the way we help businesses achieve their goals with marketing. Let me share the steps.

Gathering the right info

The first thing I did when getting ready for my hike was to gather information. I sought out the advice of both people who have done this before and the park rangers who deal with hikers on the trail daily. In your marketing, you must also put enough information out to the marketplace that consumers know enough about your brand to try it. However, make sure you are putting the right info out there to the right people. The truth is, not everyone is in your target market and you should not be marketing to someone who will never buy from you. When I was gathering information for my hike, there were other people who had advice for me, but they had never climbed the Grand Canyon. Some had hiked hills in some other parks and some were simply people with opinions. That was worthless to me because the Grand Canyon is unlike any other hiking experience I have had. The same is true for your marketing. Getting the advice of people who are buying from you will help you accomplish your goals. Getting your marketing right is all about honing in on your target market.

Train for the event

The advice I received from the experts was that I needed to train for this hike. They were right. I spent the past two years getting ready to climb the Canyon. That included building my endurance to run hilly trails and to go further than I had done in the past. In marketing, we have to plan, but we also have to learn from our past marketing experiences. What has worked and why has it worked? Likewise, what has failed and why did it do so? Many companies never take the time to evaluate what is working and what is not in their marketing. This is a discipline that is necessary to your success.

Don’t be hindered by what you’ve done in the past

When I told people I was going to hike the Grand Canyon, most said they thought that was a great idea. That was not the only advice I received, however. I had plenty of people telling me that I should not attempt it. I was too old, too frail, way past my prime. Good marketing is about pushing the barriers of what has been to help brands grow. Many business leaders would rather not rock the boat with their marketing, but growth cannot happen without pushing the limits. However, my advice is not to go it alone either. Lone wolf marketing typically leads to disasters. One of the good pieces of advice I received about hiking the Grand Canyon was to do it with a team. I joined a couple of friends and we all trained for the event and did it together. I cannot emphasize how important that was. It helped me push on when I needed to do so and to take a break when it was necessary. Form a team for your marketing efforts. Include others in the planning stages. The more people that buy-in, the better your marketing will be.

Go for it!

The last piece of advice I will give you is that there comes a time when the preparation stops and you just have to go forward and do it. Unforeseen events may occur along the way, but you can deal with them when they happen. Keep your marketing plans fluid to adjust as you encounter the unexpected.

Marketing helps you achieve your goals. Take the correct steps to make sure you are successful.

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Photo by Lennart Sikkema. Licensing info available here.