Blog post by: Amber Brownlow, Baer Performance Marketing Intern
Bigger, better, faster, right? Today we are so caught up in the results that we often ignore the process. This leads us to make decisions too quickly, get impatient when we don’t get immediate results, and we find ourselves frustrated that our efforts didn’t work – or eventually didn’t work. These are all understandable feelings to have in our fast-paced world. However, it’s time to realize that if you want quality results, you can’t underestimate the process.
My Communication degree is a good example. When I graduate in May, the long-term benefit will not be from the piece of paper I receive, but from everything I learned along the way to get it. Imagine if the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay just gave me a degree and I didn’t have to work for it. It might get me a job, but I wouldn’t know what I was doing so I likely wouldn’t last long. It wouldn’t offer me a long-term solution. In the same way, cutting corners when it comes to your marketing won’t help you in the long-run either.
Your goal is to experience growth, profitability, and awareness for your company. These are not always simple tasks. It takes a lot of thought, precision, creativity, and personalized approaches for your specific situation. That means that a rushed decision made either because it avoids complexity, has worked for other companies in the past, or “seems like” the best decision to make for your business, could result in a lot of lost money.
“A mile wide and an inch deep” I heard this phrase in one of my classes last semester, and it has stuck with me ever since. This can mean a lot of different things, but to me in this context, it means taking a lot of different approaches to solve the problem that don’t have a long-term effect. Once again, this is the result of seeking fast results and avoiding the process of finding and executing the right strategy. If you focus on finding the right solution, making sure it is a long-term one, and using your resources in the right places, you will find that you have a marketing strategy that is a mile deep!
Marketing is not A+ B=C. What worked for some other company may not work for you, and you need to seek out options that are the right fit for your business specifically. Don’t let the appeal of quick and easy rule over your marketing efforts, instead, seek out long-term solutions that have a real impact on your business.
One of the main things I learned from the Communication Program at UW-Green Bay is to treat every situation differently and to always re-evaluate. Don’t get upset when at first it feels like you have not succeeded. There are usually multiple components that go into formulating and executing a strategy, which may take some time. Problems don’t work themselves out overnight, goals don’t get reached without thoughtful analysis behind the strategy, and the process will likely have a longer timeline than you would prefer. If you become comfortable with this and understand that good things come in time, you will find successful solutions that continue to benefit your business for the long haul.
If you need help finding the right marketing solution for your business, call Baer Performance Marketing (920-632-7648).
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