(Credit: Allison Bell/ALM)
(Related: You Can Outsource Cold Calling)
If we're unwilling to take a detailed approach to our marketing strategies, our companies will never see sustainable growth. This statement goes against the norm in today's digital marketing efforts.
A perfect example: Each day, when I log into my email and my LinkedIn account, I have to delete several unsolicited pitches for new, amazing products and services. Various social media and marketing gurus are reaching out to tell me about their magic solution for email marketing, or for CRM systems, or for lead generation, or for website design. They come packed with case studies and grand promises around how quickly I can see results.
As "too good to be true" as these messages seem, we also can't ignore why they are so prevalent: They work. Many people want the promises to be true, and either out of misplaced optimism or inexperience, they invest their budget in these magic bullets.
If we're honest, many of us have made this mistake as well.
Worse yet, we are still making this mistake, even if we don't realize it.
When we talk to clients about their retirement savings, their succession planning, or their life insurance policies, we focus on long-term returns and results. Now, as much as prospects want a 10% consistent return, with the security of an FDIC insured CD, tax-deferred growth, with penalty-free access to withdrawals along the way, that's not how this works. You have to play the long game. You have to trust the process and build the big returns over time. That means being patient. That means waiting out dips in the stock market and still investing as you go. That means acting today to get results far into the future.
