In a fit of cleanliness, over the weekend, I dealt with the disaster that is our entryway closet. Pretty much everyone has a closet where jackets, gloves, mittens, and shoes are stored. Over time, these closets have a habit of turning into a dirty, dusty mess.
In my case, I threw everything out of the closet onto the hallway floor. I then began sorting through the mountain I created. I threw away a bunch of worn out mud-caked shoes, put old coats in a pile to be donated, vacuumed the closet, and wiped everything down. It looked like a mouse may have eaten some stuff in there too. Anyway, suffice it to say it was a really gross task.
During all this cleaning, I had a lot of time to think. It occurred to me that cleaning out a closet parallels marketing your business in some ways. For one thing, it’s something people put off doing because they don’t like it.
As with the closet, it’s a good idea to periodically review which marketing methods are working and which ones aren’t. Many people forget that marketing is not just all about creativity and new ideas. Smart marketers figure out what works and repeat it. They also figure out what isn’t working and ditch it. Metaphorically, you are throwing everything on the floor and then sorting things into “keep” and “dump” piles.
For example, during the great closet cleanup, I opted to get rid of a coat that has annoyed me for three years. The sleeves were too long, it wasn’t particularly warm, and the color didn’t look good on me. In much the same way, some marketing techniques may not be a good fit for your business. For example, last year, I stopped going to a weekly networking group. Because of changes in our business, it simply wasn’t a good fit anymore.
During the closet project, I found a lot of things that had fallen out of our glove and hat holder onto the floor. A hanging “shoe bag” had been enlisted into service as a glove holder. Things regularly fell out the back and it had fallen apart. It was a classic case of using the wrong tool for the job. We now have a spiffy hanging device that actually holds larger closet items, and is designed so things can’t fall out the back.
At the end of the year, it’s a good idea to evaluate the marketing systems you have set up in your business. In our case, last year we were running three newsletters that weren’t really working. They were taking too much time and effort for too little return. Instead of just continuing to do the “same old same old” we stopped them all and started up this newsletter. In a short time, Publishize already has a far better return on investment even though its mailing list is much smaller.
After donating a bunch of coats to charity, I opted to look for new ones (it’s getting cold, after all). I love a good thrift store find, so getting extremely expensive L.L. Bean and Columbia Equipment coats for $22 and $12 respectively made the recycler (and cheapskate) in me unreasonably happy.
When it comes to marketing, another thing you should consider is how things can be reused or recycled. For example, as I mentioned, we have stopped sending out our Logical Tips newsletters. However, the hundreds of articles I wrote are being turned into four books that we will sell through our store and Amazon.com. It is costing me very little in terms of time to recycle this material for a new audience.
The next time you are feeling lost while trying to market your business, think about what is working and what isn’t. Don’t keep doing something simply because it already exists. Consider how you can use your time more wisely, improve your tactics and systems, or recycle existing information into something new. The process will probably be a lot more fun (and less dusty) than cleaning out a closet.
Is Your Web Site Working?
A Web site can be an important part of your marketing mix. Is it working as hard as it could be? If you aren’t sure, check out our book Web Business Success: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Web Sites That Work. This book is filled with the practical advice you need to get the most out of your site.