One of these approaches is cheaper but could cost you BIG in the long run. It’s kind of like the line from the movie Jaws when Quint, the shark fisherman, proposes his services to the county board. “I value my neck a lot more than $3,000 bucks chief. I’ll find him for three, but I’ll catch him and kill him for ten. You’ve got to make up your minds. Want to stay alive then ante up. Want to play it cheap? Be on welfare all winter.” Quint knew that getting results wasn’t going to be a cake walk, but he had to wait for a few more shark attacks to motivate the county commissioner to realize the value of his expertise.
Marketers have one of two mindsets. Which one are you aligned with?
The down and dirty marketer values quantity over quality and hangs his hat on the belief that doing things fast and cheap will win the race. He uses a shotgun approach and measures success by the volume of marketing materials produced and pushed out to the masses. The results-driven marketer values quality over quantity, carefully coming up with strategies that will deliver messages that motivate a very targeted demographic to engage. He measures success by the number of connections and qualified leads that are reached, and whether the target consumer was motivated enough to take action.
Obviously, the results-driven approach takes more thought, time, and effort, and is more expensive, but it is much more likely to achieve your goals. The down and dirty approach is cheaper, easier and takes less time, but it is also much less likely to achieve success. In the end, blowing your budget on a marketing approach that didn’t achieve your goals is much more expensive on many different levels.
Fail to plan or plan to fail
To achieve any level of success you need a plan, but even the best-laid plans can still end in failure. Thomas Edison once said, “Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends, there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.” We all get caught up in trying to meet deadlines and sometimes get in the mindset of “something is better than nothing,” but I have to disagree. I want to be known for the quality of my work and how effective it was for my clients. I could care less about doing things that are ineffective. What good is that?
Have any of you had much success with a “down and dirty” marketing approach? If so, please share your experience in the comments section below, I’d love to hear from you.
Tom Lewis, Partner | Creative Director
With over 25 years of professional advertising and design experience, Tom has spent much of his career working with a variety of companies throughout the southeast. His client list includes Lenoir UNC Health Care, Maola Milk, Hutchens Law Firm, Wayne Community College, Craven County Tourism, Nash County Tourism Guardian Repellent, Equifax, Georgia Pacific, Primerica, Weyerhaeuser, The Atlanta Hawks, Randstad Staffing and The Shizzle Jerk Marinade.
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