They say coaches throw out their game plans within the first 10 minutes of the game. They start adjusting to what’s working and what’s not.
Messy? It can feel like it if you don’t do it a lot.
Ever tried a new recipe? Messy? It can sure feel like it, especially if you don’t try new recipes a lot.
In cooking as in sports as in marketing, the process can feel messy.
Messy is where everything starts
My message for you is don’t fear messy, messy isn’t bad. In fact, messy isn’t even messy. It’s where everything starts.
It’s simply what happens when you try things for the first time. Like introduce a new product, try a new marketing strategy (or recipe), or enter a new market. Or, starting to actively market your business for the first time. The normal, natural process of test, measure, refine, and repeat feels…well…it feels messy.
Owners often say to me “We’ve never had to market ourselves. But now we want to grow faster than referrals can take us.”
A natural reaction to avoiding that messy feeling when your company has never really launched a marketing campaign is “Tell me the best way to…”. “Tell me the best way to introduce a product to hair salons.” Or to thin film process engineers. Or to sales managers or small manufacturers.
It’s a reasonable request. Except “How you ________ in this particular market” is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The strategy is different for an established company versus a startup, a company with a budget versus one with no budget, etc. Matching the best strategy to your particular situation takes some homework AND a lot of testing (messiness) as you roll it out and find out what works and what doesn’t.
Make messy your friend.
