A certain office supply chain built their brand around an “Easy” button. Simply hit that button and all of your office supply needs (and thereby your business needs) would be resolved. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a “Marketing Success” button? With one simple push of a button, you’d have more leads (and sales) than you could shake a digital stick at.
Yes, it’s possible to get content posted to your website in a flash. Yes, you can create and upload posts to Facebook with remarkable quickness. And yes, you can send a 140-character message to thousands of your followers almost faster than you can say, “Twitter.” And while it’s true that things move at a much faster pace in the digital age, the road to overnight marketing success is still a long one.
It still takes time to build a following. It takes time to build a reputation. It doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t happen in a couple of weeks. It might not happen in a few months. Marketing is still hard work. Technology makes some things faster and easier (and that’s really good news—and something you should take advantage of). Some of the hard work, however, remains.
Regardless of what new marketing tools you employ, you still need to have a clear goal. You still need to know who your audience is. You still need to make sure your message is clear—and that it’s right for your audience. You still need to get that message out to your audience. And you still need to track your results and make adjustments to your assumptions.
The good news is that the marketing tools available to you today are designed to help you accurately and easily track your results. But these tools can’t think for you. They can’t ask your clients and prospects probing questions. They can’t come up with content that your clients want. That’s still your job. And there’s simply no shortcut for that.
What are the marketing tasks you’d like to do faster, easier, and better? What shortcuts can you make? What shortcuts will you promise never to take?