Chuck Sink, Chuck Sink Link

The acronym for “Keep it simple, Stupid!” – KISS – has been around a long time and its wisdom holds true. The KISS rule reminds us that being over sophisticated can over-complicate matters, creating both confusion and unintended consequences. The more people and variables you throw into any situation, the more complex you will make it and the harder it will be to manage.

There are mind-numbing complexities in the digital marketing industry that have a lot of executives thinking that they are behind the technology and missing opportunities. I’ve spoken with a few who’ve been quite anxious about where their business is today in relation to digital marketing best practices. To them, I say relax! The principles of sales and marketing haven’t changed. Only the technologies and communication methods change – more gradually than you may think.

Simple Patterns from Complex Data Sets: Rather than worrying about whether you’re utilizing the right kind of analytics, take a look at what you already have available. Google Analytics is free, very robust and can be embedded into any website.

My suggestion is to determine the top 2 or 3 key performance indicators that best measure growth and profitability for your unique business. The point is to avoid analyzing too much before acting. Analysis paralysis is a very real phenomenon and it can choke growth oriented activities like making targeted sales calls or blasting out valuable audience content in a newsletter.

For example, a salesperson might hesitate to call a prospect not currently being tracked in the database. Or, the marketing manager might think she needs to segment her email list and A/B test responses with different sets of content when, in reality, the general newsletter article to the entire list would be more effective and get published without delay.

Remember the Principles! Keep your focus on implementation; executing the marketing activities at the quality level and frequencies needed to grow your business.

This is simple formula that has been proven to work for small and medium-sized businesses in several diverse industries. Today’s marketing tools and systems may appear very complex but in reality, they apply the same simple marketing and selling principles that have been around since the dawn of commerce. To quote my former colleague, Gary ONeil, “If you want to move people, you have to touch them.” A simple concept that requires great work!

Chuck Sink is principal at Chuck Sink Link, Contoocook, N.H.