I began an outline for a book on marketing organically. I revamped my business cards with this idea in mind. During the last weeks of 2011, I began purging files from my computer, paper from my office and other items that I wasn’t using any longer. I find shedding with no longer serves me to be a meditative process. For several years I studied the art of placement, Feng Shui, and while I may not be the tidiest person, I understand the principles of flow and keeping areas clear of obstacles. Physical obstacles like clutter are manifestations of emotional obstacles. This lead me to think about marketing like growing a garden.
What’s in your Marketing Garden?
This line of thinking made me look at my marketing strategies. While it is good to stretch beyond our comfort zone, practically speaking, taking on habits we think we should embrace without a strong commitment and belief in the results we want is an exercise in futility. Just because others tell you to do something, unless it is a match for who you are and what is important to you, you are wasting your time expecting yourself to be someone, or do things that do not fit you.
In gardening, there are plants that flourish in the right environment and perish in the wrong ones. Your marketing strategy is like a plant. It starts out as a seed. With care and nourishment it can grow into a healthy and productive organism. If you neglect your marketing, just like a plant it may wither and die. When you cultivate your plant, providing us the soil, sun, nutrition, and water to create an optimum environment, your plant thrives. Removing weeds and eliminating pests is part of a maintaining a healthy garden. The same is true of your business. Getting rid of the stuff and people that don’t support you is as important as attracting the right people to you. Toxic people are like weeds and can choke the life right out of you while preventing healthy growth and productivity.
Marketing is like a plant
Plants have their own schedule. They don’t care if you’re busy, they are genetically programmed to propagate on their own schedule. I finished reading a very thought-provoking book, Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, ISBN 0-393-31755-2. It is about how the rise of civilizations were in large part determined by which plants and animals were available and could be domesticated and how these factors influenced spread of people and knowledge.
As you plan strategies for growing your business make sure that the actions you intend to take on are ones you can sustain over time. Keep it simple, keep it alignment with your values, and be in integrity with your word and deeds.
Build Your Garden With Care
When building a garden, you do it in the right order if you are looking to produce a good result. The first step is dreaming about what it will be like when your job is completed. Your vision will help you stay on track during the hard work required to achieve the results you want. Your vision influences the actions you will take to make your dream come true. During the planning process, you need to evaluate where you are now, the reality of your environment, any obstacles that may be in your way and must be removed before you proceed, and the resources available to you as you move forward with your plans. Realistically assessing your time, the money, the skills, and the beliefs you hold can help you map out a strategy that makes sense and is achievable. It will help you see if there are gaps between what you desire and the skills and capabilities you have. Planning is an opportunity for you to invite and enlist the support and resources from others to help you reach your goals.
Then there is the actual work. The step-by-step actions needed to go from idea to implementation. Sometimes it is possible to do it all yourself. Other times this can be a poor strategy. In most cases I would recommend sharing your ideas with your trusted advisors and getting their honest feedback. We all have our blind spots, and sometimes the missing ingredient will be revealed through conversations with our friends and associates.
Invest in Success
If you are planning to put in a new garden, you probably would not just go out to the nursery and buy random plants and some soil and hope for the best. You would be far more likely to study what plants would do well where you live and ask for advice from the nursery to select the best ones for your space, light and budget and maintenance level. When you’re expending time, energy and cash, you are likely to be careful and considerate with your investment in your garden. Take the same approach with your marketing and like your garden it to can be beautiful and productive.
You must log in to post a comment.