Yesterday, we talked about exploring caves and how it relates to your marketing.
The lesson: Make sure you’re exploring those niches within your market to build deeper relationships and get better results.
Today, I’ll tell you how tripping through a corn field brought up another great marketing lesson to share with you.
As a quick summary, this past weekend I went caving with my son and his Boy Scout troop in Maquoketa, Iowa. A great time was had by all and I came away with a couple good reminders to share with you.
This second story has to do with our trip to get to the last cave of the day.
A good year for corn…
It was mid-afternoon and we’d driven about 15 miles to a secluded gravel road. Our leader pointed across a field and said we’re going that way.
So, we all climbed over the locked gate and made our way through the tall grass and weeds, until we came to a wall of corn. The stalks were over eight-feet high by this time a year. (…it’s been a good year for corn…)
I was bringing up the rear of the group to keep the slower scouts moving. So when I got there, half the group had already disappeared.
One scout was left behind to let the rest of us know we were supposed to walk STRAIGHT THROUGH the corn field. “Perpendicular to the rows. Don’t veer off. If you do, you’ll get lost… And don’t break the corn.”
So, once we explained what “perpendicular” meant to the younger boys, we stepped into the cornfield.
The challenge was not breaking the corn. The stalks were planted about six inches apart, so you had to find openings where you could. (And the flippin’ leaves and stalks have a texture that tears at your skin, causing a rash like razor burn.)
Some of the smaller boys went straight through like they were supposed to. But a couple were searching for the best ways to step through. This meant they were stepping off to one side or the other — slowly going off course. So we were constantly calling them back toward the center line we were following.
One boy had stopped completely. Frozen in place, staring at the corn. I couldn’t get him to move. But his Dad was there. He just had the boy hold his shoulders as he guided him through.
After what must have been half a football field, we finally made it to the other side. (I can see why they use corn fields for scary movies. It’d be easy to get lost in there by yourself…)
Self-correcting to stay on course…
After we’d made it through the corn field, the rest of the trip to the cave was through a forest. So once we’d found a good path to follow, we made it to the cave without too much hassle.
So my mind was able to drift back to our last hurdle.
It reminded me of another analogy I’d heard about staying on course with your marketing or other goals you’d set for yourself or your business.
The analogy was modern airplanes and the autopilot feature.
The point was a pilot can program a destination and the autopilot system will get you to that destination. But the plane doesn’t go in a straight line.
There are constant auto-corrections required along the way to keep it on course. Correcting for tail- and crosswinds, and who knows what other things might throw it off-course.
I believe a plane is actually off-course 99% of the time. It’s these tiny adjustments along the way that gets you to your final destination.
That’s what we did in the corn field to get to the other side to the rest of our group.
And that’s what you need to do with your marketing goals.
Measuring and tracking your marketing results…
Many companies set their marketing goals at the beginning of the year and set their strategies at the same time. And don’t review or correct the strategy until the end of the year.
Is that what you’re doing?
Can you (should you?) create check points along the way to make sure you’re staying on course to reach your goals? Quarterly check points? Monthly? Weekly?
Do you have the right systems in place to accurately measure your performance? Do you know the metrics you should be measuring to make sure you’re on track?
For example… Let’s say you’ve got an email campaign and you’re measuring open rates (i.e. how many people open your emails). You see 90% of your emails get opened and you let your boss know the email campaign is a success.
But is it really? Isn’t that 90% open rate really just a “vanity metric”? Something that makes you feel good? But no impact on your bottom line.
Who’s to say they don’t just open your emails and then immediately close them and hit delete.
What you really need to measure is how many people actually click on your links in those emails. And how many of them actually buy or specify your product or service.
That’s the metric that really counts. And it will definitely be less than the 90%.
But that’s OK. Depending on your situation, even a 2% to 4% success rate can make the difference.
And it’s this information you need to look at frequently, to make sure you’re on track through the year.
If you’re not already familiar with direct-response marketing and its benefits, let’s talk about how you can use direct-response principles to make your marketing more effective. Reach out through the contact form.
Or do your own research. Shoot me an email and I can direct you to some of the best resources out there.
That’s all I’ve got for today. Until tomorrow…
Make it a great marketing day!
Neil Sutton