Is your marketing guided by the lightbulb or the compass? Are your
marketing meetings all about coming up with new ideas or finding a way to make
inroads with potential customers?
Have you had a lightbulb moment in your business – you know, when an
idea comes upon you so brilliant that you know it just can’t miss? Ingenuity is
essential in business. It is what drives us to invent new things. Famed WWII
general George Patton said this about it: “Never tell people how to do things.
Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.” A
lot of people put a good deal of stock into ingenuity. I have sat in many
marketing meetings during my career where people around a table try to hatch a
new idea. That’s important because imagination is key in marketing if you are
going to attract customers to your brand. Marketing works well when it is
communicating something new and creative. But is it the guiding force of your
marketing? If you are dependent on lightbulb moments to drive your marketing,
you will find yourself jumping at the next great idea in your business, but
never getting any results. There needs to be a device in your marketing to see
an idea through to a sale because business is a results-driven enterprise.
The compass has to be one of the world’s most ingenious ideas. They were
invented around 1000 AD in China. Someone discovered that a magnetized needle
floating in water would always point north. Ingenious, and they quickly became
essential for travel. They revolutionized long-distance journeys, especially on
a boat at sea, where visual clues as to the direction you were heading could
become clouded and confused. Compasses are wonderful devices because,
regardless of the circumstances, they will always tell you where you are going.
I would not get on a ship or an airplane without a compass guiding it.
Marketing needs a lightbulb – great ideas that garner attention, but it
also needs a compass – a planned strategy that guides a business to success.
Both are important. An idea without a direction is a failure in waiting. Going
the same direction without new ideas to offer consumers will cause your brand
to be ignored and discarded. The two have to work together.
How do you stay on track with the creative side of things? Do a little
planning. Employ a strategic marketing plan to introduce your great ideas to
the right people at the right time in the right way. Don’t just stop with an
introduction of your products and services, give consumers a good reason to try
them and follow up with them after they have made their initial purchase. See
it through to completion. This is your marketing compass.
How do you stay relevant and fresh while sticking to the plan? Build in
some periodic evaluation moments in your strategic plan. Stop and assess your
effectiveness. Compare that to what your competition is doing. Check how
responsive your target market has been to your campaigns. If a change in
creative direction is needed, do it. This is your marketing lightbulb at work.
If you are going to be effective at marketing, you have to balance your
lightbulb moments and your compass’ direction. Both are essential to your
success.