One of the best things about being a Marketing Consultant is that I get to meet many different Practice and Business Owners every week.

What Marketing Works for you?

And because I run a Marketing Consultancy, I’m always interested in hearing what Marketing and Business Development they do that works really well for them. When I ask this question, I often get an exasperated (and sometimes defensive) look and a response along the lines of:

• I have a designer that’s just updating my website now because I’m not happy with it and/or

• I’m on LinkedIn but I don’t get much business from it and/or

• I hear Video is important these days but haven’t got around do it and/or

• I do networking but don’t get a lot of business from this and/or

• People don’t read my emails any more and/or

• I know I should reconnect with my old customers and/or

• I’ve attended this webinar, bought this program, bought this book, spoke to this expert and it sounds great but I don’t have time to implement it.

Do this … do that!

As a Business or Practice owner there is always a new “magic silver bullet” in Marketing that will “revolutionise your results”. What this means is that Business and Practice owners are faced with constant “better ways” to do Marketing and Business Development. So if Business and Practice owners know all these great new Marketing and Business Development strategies why aren’t they using them or getting the results they should from them?

The Paradox was the “aha” moment

I recently caught up with a Business Coach friend of mine, Roland Hanekroot, who told me about a “TED” talk from Barry Schwartz on the “Paradox of Choice”. What Barry Swartz says is: “choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis.” It was an “aha” moment for me – that too many Marketing options are too often leading to paralysis. So if you are feeling guilty about not making time to jump on board with the latest Marketing strategy – don’t.

Simplify…then say no!

So what should you do?  Prepare a Marketing Strategy and stick to it. By all means measure your results but only adjust your strategy every 12 months unless it’s failing badly. How do you do a Marketing Strategy or Marketing Plan? Have a read of our simple approach to Marketing Plans on what should be in a good Marketing Strategy or use your own methods. The most important thing is to prepare a one-page Marketing Roadmap (I love to use Mind Mapping software such as “XMind” or “Simple Mind”) that covers all the key areas. Then prioritise and start implementing the actions in your Marketing Roadmap one by one. But make sure you shut out the noise and say no to the next great idea until you review your strategy in 12 months time. This will get you the best results and even better you won’t jump to the next “sliver bullet “and feel guilty because you “should” also do this.