As a marketer or business leader, have you ever found yourself expecting too much too soon from your marketing team or agency? Do you find yourself constantly changing your strategy, trying to find the silver bullet that will bring in massive revenue right away?
If so, it’s time to change your perception of how marketing works.
Marketing is not a magic switch that you can flip and expect immediate results. It takes a ton of work and experimentation to lock in the right channels, targeting, messaging, creative, content strategy, publishing cadence, operational infrastructure, and agile feedback and iteration.
Moreover, you need lag time to validate that your marketing strategy is actually impacting the business. Unfortunately, many executives fall for the facade of rapid success from performance marketing that pumps up vanity metrics like traffic and “leads” but drops you down six months later with no meaningful revenue impact.
Hint: It’s easy to light up dashboards with “leads” that don’t close.
Building a sales team from the ground up takes time. Building new features into your product takes time. Everything in business takes time. So why do companies expect marketing to produce immediate results?
The truth is, companies have realistic expectations for how long things take in other functions, but they rarely apply the same logic to marketing. With a new marketing program in enterprise SaaS, your time window to evaluate success should be four to twelve months. Four months minimum.
It's time to change this perception so marketing teams get enough time and space to find new programs that actually drive business results. Let’s take a look at why having realistic expectations for your marketing strategy is crucial to your success.
1. Marketing takes time to find the right fit
You can’t expect to find the right marketing strategy for your business overnight. It takes time to find the right channels, messaging, and content strategy that resonates with your target audience. You need to experiment, gather data, and make adjustments based on what you learn. This takes time.
2. Marketing takes time to impact the business
Marketing is a long-term strategy that takes time to impact the business. You can’t expect to see results right away. You need to give your marketing strategy time to work and show its impact on the bottom line. This means waiting for several months before evaluating the success of your marketing programs.
3. Rushing marketing can hurt your brand
Rushing your marketing strategy can hurt your brand. If you’re constantly changing your messaging and targeting, your audience may become confused and disengaged. This can hurt your brand reputation and make it harder for you to gain traction in the future.
4. Realistic expectations lead to better outcomes
Having realistic expectations for your marketing strategy leads to better outcomes. It allows your marketing team or agency to focus on the long-term goals of the business rather than chasing short-term gains. This leads to more sustainable growth and better outcomes for your business in the long run.
In conclusion, as a marketer or business leader, it’s important to have realistic expectations for your marketing strategy. Marketing takes time to find the right fit, impact the business, and produce sustainable growth. Rushing your marketing strategy can hurt your brand and lead to poor outcomes. Give your marketing team or agency the time and space they need to find programs that actually drive business results. Remember, everything in business takes time, and marketing is no exception.
