Ways We Leave Our Marketing Initiatives Up To Chance:

Not targeting your email list. 

If you send mass communications out to your email list when you could be targeting the message, you are rolling the dice and hoping for the best. In some cases, this is the only option, but in my experience, there are ways to segment and target. 

For example, you know a few things about your customers. How could you target your messaging to speak to them directly? 

Another example is you’ve captured how a lead or prospect found you. Are you sending them email communications that speak to what they inquired about?

Do the hard work to target your emails, and success will no longer be about luck; it will be about serving up the right message to the right person at the right time.

Posting on social media with no strategy.

So, you got those three posts out per week for the last six months – great job! You can certainly cross those tasks off your to-do list and revel in your sense of accomplishment. 

But did you have a strategy? Is your strategy measurable? Are you reviewing your efforts to see what is working and what isn’t? Oh, and then adjusting accordingly? This is especially important if your business operates in a highly niched space, is B2B or is not the sexy lifestyle type brand that people gravitate toward.  

Eliminate the luck and start with a measurable strategy, and the guessing game and/or wasted efforts are significantly diminished. 

Let me say that again: Start with a measurable strategy, and the guessing game and/or wasted efforts are significantly diminished

Lack of follow-up or consistency.

It’s a common mistake that business leaders make, and even savvy marketers occasionally make it. It comes down to follow-up and consistency. 

For those leads you gathered at an event…you know, the ones that showed interest in your product or service—follow up with them, and you no longer leave things to chance. You are in control of your success.

For those marketing efforts that you start and stop, like emails, blogs or social media posts, keep going. Don’t post for two weeks and then fade off because you got busy. Stay consistent, and you plant the seeds that grow into successful marketing initiatives over time. No luck needed.

Ways The Success Of Our Marketing Initiatives Look Like Luck But Aren’t:

It succeeded but took a lot of hard work to get there.
NBA great Michael Jordan famously said, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again. That is why I’ve succeeded.”

The greatest basketball player of all time lays it out for us. Success is easy to spot when it’s done, but we don’t often get a view of the failures, pivots, mistakes and hard work that it takes to get there. Overnight success is often created through this kind of hard work, disappointment and perseverance. 

Luck is winning the lottery. Success is doing the work.

You’ve come down with a bad case of comparisonitis. 

Comparisonitis happens when we fall prey to comparing ourselves to others. It can happen in our personal lives, too, of course. But in this case, it happens to brands or businesses that look at what their peers or competitors are doing and think, “Why didn’t my marketing initiative drive those kinds of results or go viral or any other desirable results?” 

This type of comparison can be dangerous for a lot of reasons. 

One main danger of comparisonitis is comparing your beginning to someone else’s middle or end. You’re just not being fair to yourself. 

Another danger of the comparison game is related to the work. 

Were you willing to take 9,000 shots like MJ did? Did you do the research, produce the work consistently and follow through on your prospects? Some might see my marketing initiatives as lucky, but they weren’t there when I postponed my New Year’s Eve plans to get a last-minute client request done before I left to celebrate.

One of my favorite quotes is, “Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity.” This quote, translated from Latin (Fortuna est quae fit cum praeparatio in occasionem incidit.) is attributed to the Roman philosopher Seneca and reminds us that we make our own luck. 

That said, I wish you this: May your preparation meet opportunity – often! 

Jackie Awve Marketing & Design specializes in helping businesses create marketing initiatives that drive results. Our industry experience includes commercial real estate, retail properties, executive suites, trade associations, contractors and agency consulting.

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