I was talking to a guy recently who told me that booking a conference room in a hotel and delivering a sales presentation worked really well for his business.

So here’s what I’m going to do.

There’s a really nice conference centre in a hotel near our offices so I’m going to book it for next month. We’re going to put together a killer presentation, build a stage, make a video, lay on some nice food. I’d say 100 people should cover it.

That’s it organised – all systems go.

What’s that you say? What about the audience?

Not a problem – sure that guy told me it worked really well for his business.
I hope you’ll agree that this is a completely ludicrous idea. Ill conceived with no consideration for the requirements of my business.

Yet people are doing this day and daily in marketing departments all over the world.
Maybe not with the conference room booking but instead with their choice of the social media channels that they use.

Like magpies people are drawn to the latest shiny new toy in the pursuit of the coolest way to deliver their marketing messages.

People flock to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn with no knowledge of whether their customers are using this media.

Across the board there seems to be a universal reason for this behaviour – because they’re free.

They only way they are free from a direct financial cost is if you are working for nothing (which I’m guessing that the vast majority of you are not).

Even if you are working for free then there is the cost in terms of your time to consider. Time that you would surely prefer to be spending on activities that will add some value to what you are doing.

And then there’s the opportunity cost – what new business are you missing out on by wasting time on marketing tools that will deliver no results?

How much more business could you win by stopping focusing on all the shiny new toys and narrowing the focus to tried and tested channels that you know will bring you results.

You wouldn’t deliver a sales presentation in an empty room so don’t use any marketing tools until you know your customers are there.

Stop using delivery channels for your marketing messages based on how new, how cool they are or based on other trendy, cool people and companies that may be using them.

Do your research. Understand your customers. Select the right channels. Clearly define the message you want to communicate and the customer interactions you are seeking.
Only then will you be extracting maximum value from every penny in your marketing budget and making the most efficient and valuable use of your time.