Marketing: Smarter Not Harder

As you know, in today's economy we keep trying to work harder and harder, faster and faster to accomplish the same work that we did before. The worst part is that the payoff (i.e. profitability) is often less than before!

So what can you do to turn this around?

You can look for ways to work smarter not harder. One place this can be easily accomplished is with marketing budget. Typically, we assume that in order to increase revenue, we must increase expenses at the same rate. This means that your profit margins stay small and you're not actually making much more than you did to begin with.

The "Work Harder" Model

But if you can work smarter vs. just harder, you can actually increase your revenue without dramatically increasing your expenses, thus increasing your profitability - a good thing!

The "Work Smarter" Model

How do you do this? It's deceptively simple:

1. Create a 12-month marketing plan
2. Monitor, motivate and educate the person/people who will accomplish the plan
3. Innovate the plan throughout the 12 months to adjust for what's working/what's not

This is what marketing firms do on your behalf, but the secret is that you can hire someone to do it for you at a fraction of the price of a full-service marketing firm. The only requirement is that you need a senior-level marketing executive to oversee the program. This person will be responsible for creating the plan with you and your employees. Then she will monitor, motivate, educate and innovate throughout the plan's implementation.

I have been providing this service to a number of my clients and I'm pleased to report that they are definitely making more revenue with less expense. It's incredible what bright, engaged people can do when they have a powerful plan and the guidance they need to succeed!