Best Practices Best? By Definition, They’re Average

Those responsible for marketing often fall into the trap of pursuing every available channel, tactic, and opportunity simply because they have the technical capability to do so. While this approach seems comprehensive, it undermines marketing effectiveness.

While a marketing team might be capable of running campaigns across dozens of platforms, managing multiple content streams, and juggling various promotional initiatives simultaneously, this doesn't mean it's the optimal approach. When marketing resources – both human and financial – are spread too thin, the quality of execution inevitably suffers, and the impact becomes diluted.

Consider content marketing: Many organizations attempt to maintain a presence across every social media platform, publish daily blog posts, produce weekly videos, and manage multiple email newsletters. While technically feasible, this approach often results in mediocre content that fails to engage the target audience or drive meaningful business results. Successful marketing requires strategic bandwidth management. This means making deliberate choices about which marketing channels and initiatives align with your target audience's behaviors and preferences. For instance, rather than maintaining a presence on every social media platform, a B2B company might focus its resources on developing outstanding content and thought leadership, achieving a much greater impact through depth rather than breadth.

This principle also applies to campaign measurement and optimization. Rather than tracking every possible metric because analytics tools make it possible, focus on the key performance indicators that matter for business objectives. This focused approach allows for deeper analysis and stronger optimization of marketing efforts. This will require regularly auditing marketing activities and having the courage to discontinue initiatives that, while functional, aren't delivering optimal results. This might mean sunsetting an underperforming newsletter, reducing posting frequency on secondary social channels, or consolidating marketing technology tools. Then redirect that recovered resource set toward initiatives that have the greatest potential impact on marketing objectives and business growth.

Doing something different means you might underperform, but it also means you might change what success looks like entirely.