Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Marketers often make the mistake of forgetting to think like business owners. Marketers end up focusing on topics such as webinar attendee participation, website impressions and social click throughs, when the most important features aren’ that at all. The only metric that remotely matters for for-profit businesses is money and how you’re going to acquire it. The key to success is business-oriented first and then marketing second. Growing and prospering your marketing approach will take the time to make sure your focus is centralized. 
A business-oriented marketer will always start at the bottom of the marketing funnel by analyzing the closed sales deals that succeeded and follow them back up the funnel. On the other hand, a market-minded individuals will invariably start at the top of the funnel. Regardless of the type of marketer you identify as, the whole reason marketing exists is to make money quickly and easily. The following tips can aid marketers in growing their skill sets and remaining true to their goals.
Avoid Overthinking It
Ideally all you’ll need to do is ask yourself how do you fit in the market. Don’t overthink it; it’s not that complicated. A tip for combatting this obstacle would be to imagine your company as a person walking into an important business meeting, amongst customers and competition. Where and why do you stand out? How do you present yourself to those people in the meeting? Do you encounter customers one-on-one or do you immerse yourself in social situations with the competition and contribute to the conversation.
Strategize It, Correctly
The term ‘strategy’ is commonly misunderstood. Let’s say you want to penetrate 25% of payment processing industry with your software, that would be a goal, not a strategy. How you get to that point, is your strategy. It’s important to recognize that strategies are temporary quests, and should be accomplished in a timely manner. Lastly just know, if the “how” doesn’t get you closer to achieving your “what,” then try something different.
Measure Accordingly
Too much is more than enough. Keep it simple. When it comes to metrics, marketers have to be very careful about the following two things.
- What is meaningful to my company? As a marketer, what key metrics do I need analyze to help me do my job and drive revenue?
- What is meaningful to others? What metrics are essential for helping employees in my company do their jobs, like staffing sales teams?
Great Messaging is Everything
Developing a clean and crisp written message is key to telling your story. Developing such content isn’t hard at all. It doesn’t matter what you, or anyone in your company, thinks about the overall message. The important thing is that your customers approve of it, and still choose to strive forward in closing a sale. When you’re taking the time to craft out a brand message, do yourself a favor and test it out with your customers first.
