I grew up learning basketball from coaches that enforced learning the fundamentals (to stray meant line drills!). That meant practicing with proper shooting form, basic passes, game-time shots, etc. When he wasn't watching I was perfecting fadeaway jumper, hook shot, half-court shot, and attempting to slap the backboard on a reverse layup! They were more fun, but I rarely used them in a game (or when he was looking).
Bullseye marketing is focused on the fundamentals first. Sure, you can try the half-court shot marketing ideas...but odds are you will hit the outer rings. Why not first execute on activities that will make the most impact.
There are only three sources of revenue that flow into an organization:
- Get more customers
- Get more from each customer
- Get customers to frequent more often.
Starting with this foundation, formulate strategies and process to execute on these sources of revenue. First...
- Estimate the headroom/opportunity for each of the above strategies at that point in your company lifecycle (i.e. a new company needs #1 before #2 can be impactful).
- Set goals for each. Set stretch goals for each.
- Formulate strategies for each and prioritize those based on effort and impact
- Allocate resources accordingly (headcount, time, money)
- Track progress against the goals
Pretty basic, right? Hitting the bullseye in marketing is not complicated, but can be difficult -- because most of the time it is finding the low hanging fruit and executing well on fundamentals. That seems to be difficult for most organizaitons. Taking action on the basics (note: does not mean lacking in creativity or relevance) drives 80-90% of the impact in an organization. Unfortunately, it's also these basics that get forgotten or ignored in 80-90% of organizations.
