Marketing vs. Gardening - is there a difference?

Here's a picture of our latest garden bed... ready for a fresh crop of vegies. But what's this got to do with marketing.

You see, when I put in the first set of garden beds (you can see them behind the new one) I learned a few lessons.

What I Learned...

I learned about how to keep the frame level. Especially about cutting the sleepers to match the sloping ground so there are no gaps for soil to leak out of. And how to use nail plates on the inside to keep the sleepers tight and create a good-looking finish.

I learned about how long it takes to actually finish the job. In fact this one new bed took about 8 hours in total. This takes into account measuring out the bed, taking up the grass, digging up the earth (hard work with a mattock), measuring, cutting and assembling the frame, shifting the soil from the pile into the bed (more hard work) etc etc.

In many ways this is similar to creating marketing activities for your business.

What You Can Do...

You need to understand the tasks involved so you can allow enough time to get it done properly.

Plus, there is always a learning curve. And always the opportunity to improve what you have done before. Never expect to get something 100% right the first time.

Too many businesses start marketing activities without full knowledge of what is required to complete the job. Then, when it all becomes more difficult and time consuming than they expected the activity gets dropped. Result: wasted time, effort, and money.

If you are serious about your sales improvement initiatives you will:

• Plan ahead so you aren't in a reactive mind-set - being reactive usually limits your thinking.
• Assess what you have done before - see what you can learn from that.
• Plan your tactics so they are in the correct sequence - for example understand your market before jumping at the latest promotional idea.
• Pay attention to the details - examples: make sure you follow up all leads that are generated; accurately track budget expenditure; update your website or other material to reflect current marketing activities, offers and promotional messages.
• Be sure you have the skills to do the job - for example if you're not good at working with words and writing, outsource that part of the process to someone who is. And if you're not good with technology, use someone who can do it for you.

Marketing vs. Gardening... actually there are quite a few similarities.