The importance of being focused…

Success in marketing is built on a solid foundation – a reliable, relevant offering plus a combination of a focused and strategic plan as well as a sound strategy to ‘make the plan happen’.

The problems start to mount however because many businesses get distracted from fulfilling their original business goals and marketing objectives to attract and retain new and existing customers.

In many ways it’s not their fault because as we all know, ‘business’ happens.
You become focused, naturally, on the ins and outs of every day business demands and you’re pulled in multiple directions at once – whether its delivering for customers and clients to ensure that vital cash flow keeps rolling in, improving internal operational systems, streamlining or overhauling under performing processes or negotiating any HR issues (or just dealing with staff issues in general). All of which consumes our time and we end up being reactive – ‘putting out fires’ rather than adopting the more proactive and positive approach. The list of ‘to do’s’ becomes overwhelmimg and it’s an enduring battle to stay focused, never mind motivated. If we’re not careful we lose sight pretty quickly on our core business and marketing goals.

The result? A ‘business as usual’ mindset creeps in, we lose our energy and drive and ultimately we veer off track before we even know it. ‘Riding the tiger’ is a very appropriate metaphor for being in business. (If you do fall off the tiger just be sure to climb back on again.)

Focus, therefore, is of paramount importance because distractions (and demands) are everywhere and focus keeps us on the path to success. Paradoxically and on the wider scale, distraction or interruption is what comes with living in our marketing society – the focus is on what we ‘don’t’ have as opposed to what we ‘do’ have – so even more distractions come into play. Small wonder everyone becomes numb, jaded or desensitized.

Review any of the top 500 Forbes organisations however, and fundamentally from the start they focused on a specific goal – a clear vision. Tech giant Apple apparently started with ‘three friends in a small garage’. Siemens, the largest engineering company in Europe – ‘a small back building workshop in Berlin’.

‘I’m not a top 500 company’ you’d say and you’d be 100% right, but the focus is where they started and what they set out to achieve – and that is the key insight that we must take from those two examples.

Focus on your target market, your customer segments or your ideal customer are also key components. ‘Speaking to everyone and appealing to anyone’ is no longer a valid strategy – no, not everyone is your customer. Counter intuitive as it may seem, your message simply won’t resonate or be heard and your marketing won’t stand out from the crowd – at great cost and time to your marketing dollar.

So again, focus is the key word.
Whether it’s a 90 day ‘business transformation’ package, a double your leads in 30 days deal, or a 1 day intense goal setting plan – no matter how they market it, focus is what you do at the start. Because the transformation process requires initial focus and acceptance that currently things aren’t working out so well. Denial is a powerful emotion.

Focus means identifying where you want to be and figuring out how you get there. Focus also requires and implies change from what we’re currently doing. ‘If you find yourself in a rut, change what’s keeping you in the rut’ is the saying (granted its hard to identify sometimes). Change, of course, is the hard bit because it’s out of our comfort zone and that brings fear. A seasoned marketer (he won’t thank me for that description) once told me that ‘out of your comfort zone’ is also where the magic happens. And with good reason – because I’ve lived it and seen that it works myself.

So the importance of being focused on your marketing goals cannot be understated because it involves accepting what’s currently not working and making the necessary changes that allow you to find a unique marketing solution that will work for you and your business.

So are you focused?
If so, where are you headed?

Your Marketing Man
Jamie Thomas