“Watson, what do you think the best marketing tactic for a business is?” The Effective Detective asked, as he turned away from his frost encrusted window.
“Sir? I think I am missing some data here,” I replied, feeling like I was being led into a trap.
“Excellent Watson! There is hope for you after all! Pray tell, what is the missing data?” The Detective exclaimed.
Well…” I started out slowly, watching The Detective’s face for indications that I was going in the wrong direction, “what kind of business are we talking about, sir?”
“A good start Watson! How can you possibly know what tactics to use if you don’t even know the business? Every Door Direct Mail would be a horrible choice for an online business, no? There is another piece of missing data though, is there not?” The Detective responded, almost gleefully.
” Even if you know the business, the market could easily vary, even within a certain business type,” I ventured.
“You’ve hit the nail on the head, Watson! Who the market is, where you can meet them, and how you can reach them, these are the true drivers of your marketing tactics. It sounds obvious and yet, how often have we seen people creating Facebook pages when their market doesn’t use Facebook, networking at events where neither their market, nor good referral sources are in attendance, and of course, sending out emails with content that has no appeal to the people they are sending to. It pains me to admit I’ve done the same occasionally,” The Detective ended with a sigh.
“I think this is a landmark day then sir, you, admitting a mistake?” I pushed gently.
“Careful Watson, of course I admit to my mistakes, since they are so few and far between, it does no harm, but back to the point at hand. We could end the discussion here since the point is so simple, but there is a bit of nuance to using mis-directed tactics,” The Detective responded, then gave me my usual lead to ask him to continue.
“OK sir, I’ll bite. How could you possibly make using the wrong tactic work to your advantage?” I asked.
“Ah Watson, the trick is in knowing what you don’t know,” The Detective began, “if you are certain of your market, then using the wrong tactic, simply because it is popular or cheap is simply bad business. But what if you aren’t sure of your market, or at least you aren’t sure where they are or how to reach them? Then, running small controlled tests with some of these tactics may actually help you identify where your marketing should be focused, and certainly where it should not.”
“Taking baby steps before you start running sir?”
“That is one metaphor Watson. Another one, although I despise sports metaphors, would be how a football team starts out a game with a few running plays, and a few passes to see where the defense might have a weakness, before committing their game to runs or passes, or risking the big play that could backfire on them.”
“An interesting concept, sir,” I said, not sure I was supposed to come up with a new metaphor or to just put the game to rest.
“The important thing is that you must analyze the results. As usual Watson, the clues are there, but you need to get and look at the data to find them. Now let’s get back to work shall we?” The Detective finished.
“As you wish, sir.”