All marketing works (but...) ✨

Hello Reader,

All marketing works.

You've heard me say this before, and it's absolutely true: all marketing has the potential to work. In fact, very little annoys me as someone trying to agitate their audience by proclaiming "XYZ doesn't work anymore, it's time for ABC." Show me the data before declaring any marketing DOA.

Picture this: I could dress up in a hotdog costume, stand on a street corner, and spin a sign. That marketing would generate attention. Now, would it attract the right clientele for a marketing strategist? Probably not! But it would still undeniably "work."

This concept is precisely why, in my initial conversations with people, I get a bit pushy about understanding their current marketing efforts and whether they're embracing an active versus passive strategy.

So, what do I mean by passive marketing?

I'm not diving into the inbound vs. outbound debate (that's a whole other conversation for another day—one I don't think is actually very fun). Instead, I'm talking about simply "doing marketing"—writing a blog post, sharing on LinkedIn, running ads, whatever—without any real effort to amplify those activities or follow up on the engagement they generate.

What I consistently observe is a pervasive passive approach to marketing. This is particularly common in the solo and micro-entrepreneurial space.

And let me be clear, this isn't a critique; it's simply that many folks don't realize marketing isn't a "set it and forget it" endeavor. If you were in corporate settings before becoming an entrepreneur, there's a very good chance you never saw what the marketing and sales departments were doing all day—you literally had no way of knowing.

Every marketing activity has essential bookends: building your audience before the activity, and diligent follow-up after it.

For instance, when I develop a marketing strategy for a client, we first define the initial bookend: Who exactly are they speaking to beyond a generic client avatar? What's their buying psychology? What level of readiness do they need to be at to make a purchase decision?

Then, we wrap it up with the second bookend: a comprehensive follow-up process. This includes a gentle call to action for those "not yet" ready to buy, a clear path to continue nurturing the relationship (typically via email, but maybe for you it's a podcast, diligent networking, or something else entirely), and possibly a personalized one-to-one follow-up strategy.

There's a significant amount of crucial activity that happens outside of just the "marketing thing" itself.

It's not just the Facebook post, the article, the ad, or the networking event. In fact, those are often a very small piece of the puzzle. You must have the bookends. It's non-negotiable.

In today's messy world, passivity only hurts you, regardless of how effortless someone else's marketing might appear. Those who claim they have systems where clients magically materialize after a single marketing effort aren't usually sharing the complete picture: Who was their audience? How long did it take to build that audience? How large is it? How did they cultivate connection and community within it? There's a lot happening that's invisible to us outsiders.

That, folks, is where the real marketing story truly lies—in those essential bookends.

Onward and upward,

Sarah