“There’s no such thing as a marketing emergency”

One of my mentors once said that to me, more than a decade ago now, after I’d spent the weekend working on a marketing project.

And that’s the thought I’ve had in my head over the past few weeks. There are some real emergencies out there, and marketing shouldn’t be one of them.

I thought the best way I could be helpful to you today is to just make your marketing a little easier. A little bit less stressful or overwhelming, so you can focus on other things.

So, first, remember that successful marketing messages are ones that work, not just in the moment, but which can continue to work for years to come.

For instance, we can scare people into taking action—or, more often, avoid taking action—in the moment, but that’s unsustainable, as our audience will eventually ignore us as a means of self-protection.

But positive emotions and sentiments trigger what neuroscientist Tali Sharot calls the "GO Response," and as psychologist Daniel Kahneman illuminated, positivity primes the mind for accepting messages.

That means successful marketing messages are positive, sustainable, and measurable—so we can keep improving over time.

Do more of what works, and stop doing what can’t work or hasn’t worked for a long time.

And messages that can work are targeted at the right people, at the right time, about the right struggle, offering the right solution—for them in particular.

This is self-evidently true, because messages targeted at the wrong people, at the wrong time, about the wrong struggle, offering the wrong solution obviously cannot work.

So when crafting a new marketing message, treat it like a fill-in-the-blanks exercise:

1. Who are you talking to in particular?

2. What problem are they trying to solve, or what future state are they trying to reach?

3. How is your solution uniquely able to help them?

4. When do they experience a struggle, or when do they realize they need support to help them achieve something?

5. Where are they, or where do they go when they realize they need the type of support you provide?

Then craft a message addressing that person, from a place of positivity and support:

• Make reference to that particular person’s struggle or goal
• Highlight your unique features and the decisions you’ve made that make you the best option for them
• Target your message at or around the moment they experience a struggle or realize they need support
• And place your messages in the media where they go or where they are when they realize they need help

I’ll use myself as an example to try to make things a little clearer:

• My primary audience is consultants who want to attract clients who truly appreciate their value, so they can do the work they love and charge profitable prices
• I help them by teaching them to create a structure to work efficiently to promote their businesses to the right people at the right time, and I provide the motivation they need to keep at it for the long-term
• I focus my messages around particular struggles like not knowing what to say to attract better clients, or how to stick with marketing work even when it gets boring, frustrating, or difficult
• And I place my messages on LinkedIn, in their inboxes through this newsletter, and in targeted ads and media releases in the business press

So, to turn this framework into something real, I might write a LinkedIn post on my corporate page along these lines:

“To charge profitable prices for your consulting work, you know you need clients who truly appreciate your value. But what can you say to make them realize you’re the best option for them?

Instead of running around in circles, hoping your latest marketing efforts will work, we’ll help you walk forward in a straight line, targeting the right people, at the right time, with the right message—so that it can work.

And we’ll help you create a strategy—the structure to work efficiently to get what you want—and the motivation to stick with it until it succeeds.”

And then I’d include a link to my website or an invitation to get in touch in the comments below the post.

You’ll want to put your own unique spin and personality on your content, and find creative ways to get attention. But hopefully this demonstrates how easy it can be to make marketing content once you know what you need to communicate.

Remember, not all your posts will work, and not all your ads will take off.

So never use all your resources on a single ad, campaign, or promotion—your initial efforts will never be as successful as your subsequent ones, so long as you leave yourself enough resources to have subsequent efforts.

I hope this helps, and if you have any follow-up questions, reach out to me at joel@kelfordinc.com—you’ll get no pressure and no pitch, just a helping hand.

And keep at it, because consistent action over time is the only thing that really works.

There’s no such thing as a marketing emergency.

Just keep a steady pace, and take care of yourself.

So you can keep going.