Are You in Denial About Your Marketing Vision?

I’ve been in a state of denial for years. When I turned 40, my husband said “It won’t be long before your eyesight is history.” First, how mean is that? Shining the light on my age as I said farewell to my 30s. Unfazed by his prediction of my ocular deterioration, I came back at him with “I’ve always had 20/20 vision. Perfect vision. It’s not going to change anytime soon.”

Well, color me wrong. Just 3 years later I found myself holding restaurant menus just a little further away from me, and my nighttime reading was literally a blur. Instead of picking up reading glasses from the local pharmacy, I simply adjusted my life to fit this new reality—and made excuses whenever I was “caught.”

I checked restaurant menus online before we left the house so that I was prepared for what to order. No need to hold the menu at arm’s length. Problem solved.

I ditched paperbacks and went completely digital with my book reading. I told myself that it was strictly for the environment. Carbon footprint and all that jazz. Yea. Right. It had NOTHING to do with the fact that I could manipulate the font size on my iPad. Nothing at all.

I had a lot of success ignoring the inevitable, until this past fall when I went to vote for the first time. Before being ushered to the electronic station (where I was sure the print would be an appropriate size), I was asked to fill out a form. I stared at the form –that someone in their 20s or 30s had printed with super tiny font—and it was all a blur. I could make out were I was supposed to put my name  — probably where I was supposed to put my name. The first line, I guessed. But beyond that, I couldn’t fake it any longer. A young (yea, young) man saw me sitting there, with pen hovering over the sheet of blurred words, and said “Do you need another pen, m’am?” First of all, ugh to the term “m’am!” I’m not even 50! Anyway, I smiled at him, trying to be sexy or younger or something other than the woman who (he knew) couldn’t read the form. “The printing on the form is really bad,” I told him.

“Here, try this,” he said, handing over a large object. It was a full-page magnifier. (If you want see what one looks like, I think they are listed on Amazon under “independent living aids.”)  I looked at the guy with a “Really? Seriously?” face. The look he shot back said, “Yeah lady, the gig is up. Your eyes ain’t what they used to be.”

This past Tuesday I picked up my new glasses. I gave in and realized that I wasn’t doing myself any good by creating workarounds for a problem that had a clear solution.

So what does any of this have to do with content marketing or social media? I talk to so many people who are still using outdated marketing tactics—or who have not taken those old-school tactics and improved on them with the new tools available to them today. If the print mailers you’ve been sending out for the past 10 years aren’t bringing in the leads, it’s not time to tweak the mailer; it’s time to update your marketing plan.

We become so accustomed to making small adjustments to the way we do things, so that we don’t have to overhaul our lives. And in the case of business, sometimes it’s just easier to keep doing what we’re doing. But the truth is this: A tweak here and there will only get you so far when trying to reach your business goals. Things change quickly, especially when it comes to reaching your target audience online. Just read the dozens of “top marketing trends for 2015” posts and you’ll see just how quickly the focus shifts on what’s working and what’s not.

While I don’t subscribe to the belief that we need jump on every new marketing trend that pops up, just because a few blog posts say we should, I do think it’s important to stay on top of what’s new. How else can you make an educated decision on what could work for your business or programs?

Going back to the glasses story for a moment, I tried the drugstore reading glasses before making the investment in seeing an actual eye doctor and learning what would really work best for me. It was a stop-gap, short-term solution and now that I have my glasses, I’m seeing things more clearly. (Yeah, I went there.)

Isn’t it time you saw things more clearly too? Take a good look at your marketing plans. Now is the best time to get a new prescription.