Ready, Fire, Aim

DJ Smith / Apr 14th / Comments

While directing a photo shoot in Saco, Maine, I saw a great little cross-stitched sign that hung in the men’s restroom. It read, “Ready, Aim, Fire.” I won’t go into the particular meaning given the environment in which the little sign hung, but it made me think about how many organizations market themselves. Many think that throwing their name around en masse gets the job done. Others don’t take into consideration as to how their message will resonate with their target. Still others don’t even know who they’re targeting. They simply get ready, fire, and then aim.

If you’re going to be successful in your marketing efforts you’re going to have to accept that marketing isn’t as easy as writing clever words and mingling them with clever images. That’s not marketing, that’s fine art, and unless you need some expensive artwork hanging in your hallways I suggest you change your approach. Marketing requires the following to be successful:

An Understanding of Yourself
What gets you up in the morning? What are your passions and your dislikes? Why are you in this business? What makes you different from your competition? These are just a few questions that you have to ask yourself before developing a marketing strategy. I can’t tell you how many times we have posed these questions to the heads of organizations only to be met with blank stares. However, when organizations stop and answer the questions they come to understand themselves more. Once you come to understand yourself then you will be able to clearly speak to your target.

An Understanding of Your Target
It’s not enough to just know yourself. You might know yourself well, but the rest of the outside world may not even know you exist (and all the world may not need to know you).

A key component in a great marketing strategy is to know who you need to target and why. Good market research is essential in building a good database of contacts. Finding a target that will be receptive to your message will create a greater ROI for your efforts. Developing a good database is time intensive and something that requires maintenance to ensure that your future messages hit their mark.

An Understanding of Your Goals
For any marketing strategy to be profitable you have to know why you’re doing what you’re doing. Your goals might be to build greater brand recognition, generate sales, build awareness, or promote a specific product or service. A clearly defined objective is the start of any great strategy. When you can convincingly state why you need to engage in a particular marketing activity you will have an easier time determining your overall strategy.

You can’t expect your marketing efforts to succeed if you use the ready, fire, aim approach. Knowing yourself, your target, and your goals are critical in building a solid marketing strategy. Failure to get ready, aim, and then fire in your marketing efforts could cause a backfire in hitting the right target with the right message.