Just Follow the Recipe!

Sometimes I can follow a recipe to the “T”; other times not so much.  Why do I tend to deviate from something I know will be good if I just stay with it?  I think it has to do with choice.  I want to remind myself that I can do whatever I want as long as I’m willing to live with the consequences.  

Same holds true for marketing… the communications strategy you develop can be pulled back a bit (here and there), but it’s important to remember that the results can become equally limited.  But, can you (or the powers-that-be) live with that?  

When I’m cooking I usually start out strong, determined to put in a solid and consistent effort, but then I might cut back a bit on ingredients (do I really need  leeks?) or I’m distracted by other events (great movie on right now), or I hurry to get it done (do I really need to stir this for so long)?  So the soufflé falls flat, the curry is too mild, the fish overcooked.

And in marketing?  Scrimping can come in many forms: The email program that was researched, invented, reinvented, polished and tested lacks good results because a questionable (read: cheaper) target audience list was used to ‘cut corners.’  Or, the email program proceeds as originally spec’d and tested, but a less intriguing (read: cheaper) offer is used. The White Paper is written and covers all of the key points well, but it’s been cut a bit to omit the more controversial (and sometimes more interesting…and more followed) areas of the topic.    

We’re probably all guilty of this type of behavior at one time or another and for a variety of reasons: the budget gets cut mid-stream, the focus shifts (but not the due date), other forces prevail.  But I think we all know that it’s better to stick with the full plan…to do the best possible job researching and creating a marketing strategy and attendant tactics, to test our assumptions, and then let it fly.  Don’t hedge, don’t equivocate…go for it!  (Or, at the very least, if something changes, go back to the drawing board.)