So Many Shiny Objects

Recently, I met a very bright and ambitious man who has achieved some success at a young age selling a very specific online marketing tactic. We met at a conference and I was genuinely interested in what he offered and whether there may be opportunities to collaborate in some way. My experience is in helping companies achieve results through marketing strategy, brand development and ultimately advertising to the right customers. We agreed to jump on a call a few weeks later for what I thought would be a strategy session on how we might collaborate.

30 seconds into our call, this ambitious guy launched into a fairly aggressive sales pitch promising to triple my social media following in 30 days. The price? $3,500 per month. Of course, if I signed up “today” the price was slashed to $900 but I had to commit right then.

While I was mildly impressed with his polished sales script, I was disappointed he hadn’t taken any time to understand my business or even know what my social media following looked like before the call (not to mention remembering our specific conversation about collaboration).

Sadly, as business owners, we experience this all the time. We are bombarded by tips, tricks and new technology as it relates to marketing. How do we choose what will work best for our specific businesses?

How many more calls will I get from my credit card processing source promoting the latest marketing tool, or the calls from strangers that can improve my Google rankings?

I have spent years helping organizations large and small create effective marketing campaigns. The one thing I know for certain is that there will always be the next shiny object. There will always be a sales person knocking on my door claiming to have a solution to satisfy my need for more customers. It takes understanding the objectives and knowing your audience before purchasing one marketing solution.

Instead of being distracted by the next best tool or tactic, we must take time to set specific goals for growth, understand the customer and then develop a solid marketing plan that can withstand the daily distractions and overwhelm that come with trying to figure out which tactic to use next.

A few hours of effort developing a plan can save valuable mental energy and keep some of our hard-earned money in our pockets.

As for my conference colleague, we have not collaborated though I am still in his email funnel of likely prospects, and my phone is still ringing. You have to admire tenacity.

Jan Southern, DPA is the owner of J. DelSUR Marketing Group and publisher of Pooler Magazine and Effingham Magazine in southeast Georgia. She is a marketing and communications professional with more than 30 years experience, 16 of which have been in leading marketing initiatives for major universities in the U.S. Her experience includes marketing, brand development, design, publishing and strategic communications for public organizations and private sector clients in the healthcare, technology, lifestyle, giftware, publishing, automotive and other industries.