How to Utilize Progress to Achieve Perfection in Your Marketing Strategy

When building and executing a campaign or go-to-market plan, I’m a proponent of progress over perfection. I value taking well-informed action and iterating from that action vs. waiting to launch until every detail has been perfected.

Why? Customers are humans, and humans can be unpredictable. Data and insights can be misinterpreted. Budget may be limited to conduct extensive research. Speed to market may be critically important. 

However, prioritizing testing and learning (i.e. progress) does not imply that it’s acceptable for critical components of the customer experience to be sloppy. Progress must be layered on top of key foundational elements:

1️⃣  Make it a priority to understand your target customers’ needs and motivations. Even with limited time and budget, you can tap into existing 3rd party research, conduct a survey, or better yet speak directly with prospective customers. 

2️⃣  Take the time to clearly articulate your brand identity (mission, vision, and value proposition). It's difficult to achieve perfection here and these elements can evolve. To start, ensure that your identity is relevant and appealing to your target customer and differentiated from your competitors.

3️⃣  Develop a customer journey that promotes discovery, education, and engagement. Begin with the essential channels your customers frequent, and ensure your purchasing process is optimized to reduce customer frustrations.

... and I think it goes without saying that these items are built around a product or service that fills a need and works well.

From this foundation, you can start to test and "perfect" things like:

🔸 The tone and voice of your brand identity

🔸 Creative styles/approaches

🔸 Messaging iterations for different audience segments

🔸 New channels in your marketing mix

🔸 Channel orchestration (e.g. delivery timing/flighting)

Determining when and how to prioritize progress over perfection will depend on the unique circumstances of your product launch or campaign plan. If you have a specific project you’d like to talk through, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.