Kelford Labs Daily: Focused Marketing Advice

Imagine someone rolling into their favorite coffee shop and ordering, with a pleased smile on their face, “A little bit of what everyone else is drinking.”

A splash of espresso, a little bit of smoothie, an ounce or two of sugary iced coffee. Just mix ‘em all up and stick a straw in there.

That’d be weird, right?

But why? Isn’t each of them good on their own? Singularly, aren’t each of them worth buying?

So why does it all break down once you put them all together?

Not because any individual element is the problem, but the combination of them is unfocused, messy, and contradictory.

That makes plenty of intuitive sense when it’s our morning beverage, but when it comes to marketing advice, entrepreneurs will often happily sample a little of everything and then wonder why nothing’s working.

It’s not that any individual piece of advice is the problem (though some of it certainly is), it’s that they don’t work together.

When we try to implement everything we see on LinkedIn and TikTok, while also pursuing a plan we’ve read in the latest buzzy business book, while also taking a course and copying our competitors, it all ends up messy and ineffective.

We’ve got to focus, not just our efforts, but our inputs. We can’t take every bit of advice we see or copy whatever our peers are doing.

We need to know what works best for us. Based on our preferences, capabilities, and values.

Then, when we see marketing advice, we know what to select and what to avoid. What to learn from and what to set aside.

But it starts with knowing ourselves—what we like, what we’re the best at, and what we can do for the long-term.

Instead of trying a little bit of everything.

Read More: Don’t buy the best practice