How do you know when you need to quit what you are doing? How do you know when it isn’t working and it is time to bail, versus, when to keep pushing through the hard stuff to make it to be the BEST in the business?
When it comes to marketing your company and using a strategic marketing process, how do you know when to change strategies? Or when to quit one strategy because it will never pay off. Or when to stick with a strategy and get through the “dip” so to speak. Seth Godin speaks to these questions in his book "The Dip." It's worth the read!
When it comes right down to it, there usually isn’t an easy answer and there is no magic wand. But there are a few things you can do to make sure your business becomes the best it can be. And believe it or not, sometimes it will involve quitting.
There are three strategic approaches to starting or stopping anything you do, marketing included:
SMART Approach
This is the strategy that pushes you through the dip. Those that take this approach stay the course. They stick it out and push through even when things get hard, sticky, yucky, and the future seems bleak. These are the ones who become the best in their industry.
MATURE Approach
This comes with a bit of experience and “self-smarts” so to speak. This is the strategy that never starts in the first place. This is the person who says- hum…this strategy is not the path for me. It is not my strength and it is wise to use my time talents and resources somewhere else (and it is in that somewhere else they use the SMART Approach). Sometimes the best thing you can say for yourself and your company is – NO. That is not the best option for us.
STUPID Approach
Unfortunately this is the most common of the approaches, even in the most successful of companies. When things get hard, goals aren’t being met, marketing results are taking too long, the majority of businesses quit at the dip.
So, if you are choosing the SMART approach and you found the marketing strategy that you know will make your business the best it can be, how do you stick with it and push through the dip that is bound to come? Here are a few steps you can take ahead of time to prepare yourself and your company:
- Make a plan.
- Visualize the end goals- write them out, draw them, visualize how it will feel, what your day will be like. Make it as real as possible and record that somehow.
- Choose the best path to get there. For marketing, this will include your strategic plan.
- Decide what you will measure to show “success” and how you will measure it.
- Decide in what scenarios you will quit so that you don’t quit for other reasons when you are feeling emotional or in a panic. (This is part of the mature approach where quitting is a smart choice).
In the video "Cynthia Lou on getting through the Dip" she describes seven areas of quitting that you will want to consider and plan for. We recommend that you decide ahead of time what your business will do when you reach this point in each area below. AND again, keep in mind your END GOALs- your vision for the future and where you want to be, then decide what steps you will take to get through these seven areas:
- Run out of time
- Run out of money
- Get Scared
- Not Serious enough
- Lose interest or enthusiasm
- Focus on short term, lose sight of long term
- Chose the wrong thing to be the best at
For more on this topic check out Cynthia's video here:
Remember: Quitting can stop your company from being the best in the world in that “one thing.” Quitting can also help when it eliminates waste and allows your company to focus all its energy on that “one thing” to be the best in the world. You just need to decide which strategic approach you will take: SMART, MATURE, or STUPID.
(and PS- no one wants to be stupid, because it’s just…stupid.)
If you are looking for business consulting to get you through the dip or you are looking for a strategic marketing process that will help your company reach its goals, contact us today!
Since 2002, Half a Bubble Out has been dedicated to providing marketing, advertising and small business consulting that meet the needs of our clients. We specialize in powerfully telling stories through Inbound Marketing to grow your business filled with more passion and provision. Based in Chico, California we serve clients throughout Northern California and across the country to New York.
