Ok, I’m going to admit something that kind of makes me look like a slacker and a failure… over the past couple of years I have bought and/or downloaded THIRTEEN digital marketing systems and strategies.
I did the work – I’m a vigilant box-ticker – I filled in all my worksheets, made my plans, set my calendar reminders and then… nothing. I did not implement a blessed thing.
Want to know the real reason why? There was just too much going on. Too many things to do, too many places to show up on, too many conversations to be having… The fundamental truth that so many of these digital marketing whizz kids forget about it this: marketing our businesses is never the be all and end all of our businesses. We have other stuff to do as well. Like, you know, client work. Product creation. Admin. Finance. Post-it buying. Vital tasks that can take up a lot of time.
Today I thought I’d share a whole bunch of stuff that you can go ahead and delete from your digital strategy today. I mean that. Go hit the backspace button right now.
Overwhelm
You don’t have to dive in doing all the things. Start small, with one tactic. Perfect that, measure the results, then decide if it’s something you want to continue doing. If it isn’t… discard it.
Stress
Just to be clear, there is nothing in life (or business) that you “have to” be doing. That goes for all the digital marketing stuff too. Never feel like you’re falling behind because there is no behind. There’s no “ahead” either, so don’t race to get there. Just be where you are and do your best.
Competition
Having a certain amount of awareness around what your competitors are up to will give you an edge. You’ll be able to monitor what’s working in your industry, what people are loving and what they’re not, without actually having to do ALL THE THINGS yourself. But, and this is important, when you find yourself falling into a state of comparisonitis, switch off. Like I said, there is no behind, there is no ahead, so stop torturing yourself.
Contradictory advice
There are eleventy million experts on all the various branches of digital marketing out there on the internet. None of them has exactly the same outlook, experience or strategies to share, which means if you try to follow too many at once your brain will EXPLODE. Be discerning about who you learn from. One or two experts are enough, trust me. You can always change your mind later.
Humblebrag “get to know me” posts
These are just icky.
All the tools
Don’t feel like you need to invest in all the fancy analytics platforms, schedulers, image editors, content planning systems, etc, etc
Figure out what you actually need, do your research and start by experimenting with a free or inexpensive option. And if you decide to upgrade, or buy something a little pricier, cancel the subscriptions you no longer need.
The stuff you hate
This is, bafflingly, something I need to remind people of a LOT. If there’s a marketing trick that you’ve seen that you actively dislike, something that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, don’t then go and do it yourself.
Example – I cannot bear it when I see people post “insightful” photos in Facebook groups with random tips that nobody asked for. It drives me MAD. So I don’t do it.
Stay in integrity – do the stuff you’d be proud to share far and wide.
Platforms that drain you
Show the same level of discernment in your social media platforms. If there’s a platform that you have to FORCE yourself to be present on, scrap it. Your people will gauge your level of enthusiasm and if you have none, they’ll see it.
Tactics that don’t actually bring you any results
Be really strict about the activities you spend your time on. If you experiment with a particular marketing idea for 90 days and it hasn’t brought you any closer to your goals… DELETE. You want to be focusing on those things that pull you towards big, juicy results. Be brave enough to bin anything that isn’t working. For more tips on this one, read this.
