Hey marketers, one isn’t enough

I learned these 4 things the hard way:

#1 One great blog post isn’t enough I remember writing a great post, publishing it, telling some people, and waiting for it to go viral. Great content doesn’t circulate itself like we’d like to think it would. Not everything we think is great, is great. Create more, publish more, distribute more.

#2 One follow-up message isn’t enough I remember creating a huge flurry of very personalised outbound email messages…with no follow-up whatsoever. Great emails don’t always get a response and it’s not always because the email wasn’t great, but that it was great at the wrong time. Follow up.

#3 One marketing campaign isn’t enough I remember deciding what a project’s campaign would be, and just going for it. Without testing it. Some things just work better than others for a chosen market. If we don’t listen to our market and try new things, how can we know if we’re giving them our best? Try things.

#4 One customer conversation isn’t enough I remember launching an entire product test without speaking to a single prospective customer about what it would be like, or how it would be marketed. You can guess how that project went. Have a system for talking to customers and capturing insights.

It’s hard to win by taking just one shot. It’s hard to win by not being disciplined about regularly talking to (and learning from) your prospects and customers.

You do work that matters. There are people who need you:

Don’t leave your work to chance. Don’t leave understanding your people to chance. Don’t leave knowing what to say to them to chance. Don’t leave being seen to chance.