Why You Should Throw Out Your Marketing Tactics And Tools

Susan Oakes
19 comments

The headline may be a bit strong so for a moment just put them to one side and you can get back to them in a little while.

Watching a little of My Kitchen Rules final(as I was working of course)  the winners based their cooking on their heritage and the recipes that have been passed down from generations.

They knew what recipes were family favourites, added their own touch and basically stuck to what they knew people loved eating. Sure they were able to use the latest cooking utensils and appliances, but that was not what they chose first.

What does this have to with marketing your small business?

Well it seems a lot of the focus today is on what marketing tactics and tools you should use and it is a little like one size fits all.

All of them have a place, but the trick is understanding if they are right for your customers and your business. It actually can be a little overwhelming because they all sound so good and everyday you read or hear you must use this one to succeed in marketing your brand.

One question to ask yourself:

Why are you using these marketing tactics and tools?

Top chefs and the two home cooks used specific kitchens utensils and appliances to make their dishes. They knew in advance what they needed to use and what to put aside. Again the focus was on the food first and their diners.

In business, marketing tactics are at the end of the marketing planning chain, after knowing what you want to achieve with your current or potential customers and what your strategic focus (overall game plan) is, not before.

A little exercise for you:

Look at what you are using and see if they fit with what you want to achieve. Think about the one or two key marketing objectives you need to reach to increase sales or get new customers in the next three months. This could be increasing the awareness of your brand, getting your customers to buy more or more often for example.

Then work out what is your overall strategy.

Action the ones that will help you achieve these and put the rest aside.

If you do this exercise share the results or if you need a little help let me know.

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19 Responses to Why You Should Throw Out Your Marketing Tactics And Tools
  1. Bambi
    March 24, 2010 | 6:05 pm

    Great post. I really think that a lot of people struggle between tactics, tools and strategy. They tend to start at the end….Let’s do an ad; Let’s run a competition. Without a strategy the tactics and tools are worthless. You are spot on.

    Reply
    • Susan Oakes
      March 24, 2010 | 6:41 pm

      Hi Bambi,

      Thanks for your comment. I know you help your clients with the marketing strategy and I bet it actually makes marketing their small business easier and gets them results.

      Reply
  2. Sarah Mitchell
    March 26, 2010 | 2:43 am

    Hi Susan,

    What I particularly liked about this post is your advice to find one or two key marketing objectives and work on achieving those goals. I think all too often people get overwhelmed by all the possibilities and either do nothing (analysis paralysis) or do too much without doing any of it well. Executing one aspect of your plan really well is going to be far more effective.

    As ever, you’re given me food for thought. I wish I could work while watching TV but I just end up getting distracted.

    Reply
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