As professionals, we all have to “take inventory” from time to time and evaluate the areas of our company that may need a little streamlining. We have found, that all too often, marketing is definitely one of those areas.
Here at BARK, we define “marketing slack” as any marketing effort that absorbs time and resources but creates little to no value for your company.
For example, maybe you find yourself right smack dab in the middle of lots of marketing efforts, but you have no idea which ones are actually working. You may be asking yourself: Which efforts are producing real value for my company? Which ones are a waste of time and effort? And for heaven’s sake… how many social platforms do I have to maintain in order to have a presence that works? And Google. Seriously. Ain’t nobody got time to try and figure that out. Figure out what the SLACK IS, and cut it!
Another form of slack? How about the giant missed opportunities between when you have a good idea to make something happen, and the time it takes to revisit it 5 times and actually execute it. Ever happen to you? CUT THE SLACK.
And how about the cost of all these efforts and knowing what’s necessary and what’s not. CUT THE SLACK.
What about the marketing meetings that go nowhere? The efforts that have no tracking associated with them? All the little, seemingly insignificant decisions (that really do add up and cost you time) on whether or not to do this one thing over here, or that other thing over there to generate some business? CUT THE SLACK.
Here’s the thing. There’s no secret behind successful marketing. Just approach. And the truth is it all matters. All the stuff. Most of it has a place somewhere. And if it doesn’t, you need to know why it doesn’t fit. It’s knowing where, when, and why you need “all the stuff” that most business owners struggle with. That part is what we refer to as “strategy,” and that’s the most crucial part of any marketing effort.
The most important ingredient to successful marketing is a CONSISTENT APPROACH. You have to market when business is good (which we usually forget to do) and you also market when things aren’t so great, and this is usually when we get real reactive, forget the vision behind what we’re doing and make the kinds of decisions that have lost perspective and aren’t sustainable for the long term.
So, our suggestion? Take a little time to evaluate where you are at on your marketing approach. We aim to be helpful, and we like to give out some free advice that steers you in the right direction. If you need more than that, give us a call. The strategy is our strong suit, and branding is what we do best. We love helping businesses streamline their marketing efforts and finding a way to creatively tell your story is what gives us purpose. We’d love to help.