The Magic Beans Marketing
Many business owners treat marketing like magic. They hire a professional and think that if they craft the perfect image and the perfect message that over night their businesses will see a huge growth spurt. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the only story I know of that was an over night and instant success was Jack-and-the-Beanstalk. There are no magic beans when it comes to marketing.
Unlike the magic beanstalk that grows over night without any help, a marketing campaign takes patience. It really is like gardening in the traditional sense. You plant the idea, tend it over weeks, and watch as it sprouts and grows into something phenomenal. And unlike magic, there are quantifiable results that can be measured and anticipated to achieve the best possible result. There are steps that should be followed to make your marketing campaign a success.
So lets explore that. You start with an idea. This idea isn’t just some imaginary thing that floats around waiting to be plucked from the aether. You should always start with what you believe in. Your message must be genuine. It must come from a place of honesty. Your idea is your seed, to extend the gardening metaphor.
Over 60% of all ads that are put before a consumer are skipped. Almost 50% of consumers are even paying for the privilege of never seeing your ad. So how can you combat this? The consumers of today really can tell when an ad or marketing campaign is trying to play them….and they are tired of it. That’s where your honesty comes in.
They aren’t just buying your product or service guys. They are buying you. Todays’ client isn’t just looking at your pretty packaging or singing your catchy tune. They want to know what you think and how you feel. They need to believe that you believe in what you do and they can tell when you don’t.
As a business owner, you should always step back and figure out why you love your job or your product and if you don’t, you MUST figure out how to change that. Your seed or your idea cannot grow without your faith. Your belief is the water that will make it take root and thrive. It will dry up and wither on the vine without it.
Next you must tend your marketing campaign. It really doesn’t matter whether you are doing it all yourself, although I don’t recommend that you do, or you have hired somebody to help. Just like that seed, it takes time to grow and in the beginning it doesn’t even have a root. Did you know that it takes on average 8 times of hearing something before you remember it with ease?
Think about that. How many times do you have to hear a song before you remember the lyrics? Marketing works with the same idea. The first few times they hear your campaign, a normal consumer will ignore it. It is unusually rare that they will latch on to your product immediately, unless they think you are the perfect answer to a problem they are having. Your idea and product must be presented to them over and over again. Like the seed, you must water it over and over before the root will grow and continue to water it before you see the sprout.
Now, any one can garden and with marketing this also holds true, anyone can do it. But let me ask you this, who is going to grow the better plant, someone who randomly buys seeds, does a little research on the internet, and plants the seed and waits? Or the experienced gardener that this is what they do for a living and they know everything about what that seed needs to grow into a tall and strong plant?
When most business owners do not see immediate results from a campaign, they abandon it and move on to the next idea. Imagine what would happen if you dug up your crops every week when you don’t see the sprouts. It usually takes 8-12 weeks of presentation of a campaign before you start to see true results. That can feel like forever when you feel like you are just waiting. But, its worth it in the end.
Lastly, you have to prune it. Like I said before, how silly does it sound to re-plow your field every week when you don’t see the sprouts rise? It is equally as silly to prune and trim your baby plants when they are only an inch tall. Yet, that is exactly what many business owners do with their marketing strategies. They don’t see the results they want immediately, so they begin to trim parts away, add new parts in, or change their campaign completely. Nothing can grow if it isn’t given time.
This is where I give you my scariest number yet. 97%…..97% of all campaigns fail and I’ve just explained to you above why. Like the seed, a campaign takes time to take hold. It takes time to grow and it takes time to yield results. Most small business owners think that a lack of immediate results means its not working. So, they will pivot and change everything within 30 days, just 4 weeks.
But if you remember, successful campaigns take 8-12 weeks to bare fruit. That’s 2-3 times the length that they give it. Its like picking an apple when its green and just like that green apple, now your marketing strategy is going to leave a sour taste in your mouth.
My point is, it doesn’t matter at the end of the day if you are the owner that decides to take your marketing in hand and handle it all yourself or the owner that hires a marketer to do it for you. You must have patience to see results. Yes, you will get a better crop faster if you hire someone who has specific and honed skills to do the work for you. But, if you do your homework, put in the work, and wait, your marketing campaign can grow to heights that you never imagined and it doesn’t take any magic at all, Just a little patience.