6 April 2026
We’ve forgotten why we’re here.
Companies, businesses. We’re so busy chasing reach, likes and clicks that the messages we used to deliver to tell the world how good we are and how good our products and services are have disappeared. Or, at best, they have been diluted.
We’ve believed the ‘gurus’ telling us that regular posting was more important than quality content.
We’ve followed ‘best practice’ that targets volume, including everyone around the world, regardless as to whether or not we are able to service a global market. The aim is always quantity, regardless of sector or speciality.
“I can work from anywhere in the world; you can too,” was the clarion call.
Well it’s not true.
Most people will never leave these shores unless they’re going for their annual two week holiday, when they certainly don’t want to flip open their laptops and catch up on their work emails.
In fact, most people over thirty, especially if they have kids, are unlikely to move from the town or city they’re currently living in.
Still, it’s nice to dream.
And that’s the point, people have been lulled into believing a dream, a falsehood, a lie.
“Just post and you will find wealth. It doesn’t matter what, just post.”
“Forget all of the conventional nonsense about marketing, this is the new way.”
Except it isn’t. Or, more correctly, it isn’t the new way of marketing that will benefit your business. It won’t win you new customers. In fact, you’re more likely to lose some of the ones you already have.
Many companies are risking their futures by continuing down this path and forgetting what got them to where they once were.
Because most businesses have suffered over the past few years, with a drop off in sales and customer numbers, they can be forgiven for believing (especially when they are told it by the self-styled gurus) that it’s because their marketing is out of date.
It isn’t.
It’s just the way the market is at the moment. Slow, perhaps declining a bit. We’re in a bit of a trough.
But the way to get out of it isn’t to thrash around trying some new, magic formula ‘because it just might work’.
It won’t. That’s called ‘taking a punt’.
You need to go back to first principles of marketing.
It’s essential to remember who you are, what you offer and why your customers (used to) love it. And it’s essential to tell this to your existing and future customers by using the channels that are most appropriate to them. That may or may not include social channels.
And don’t believe you can just post anything. You have a brand, you have a reputation, you have a style that your customers expect. Your marketing must be consistent with your brand, which is unlikely to be akin to a teenager having a laugh.
Be serious about your products. They are not funny. They have real business impacts. They solve a problem, or they make a job easier or quicker or cheaper, or they give your customers a business advantage over their competitors.
Your marketing needs to reflect all of this. Your customers need to hear these messages: Why your products are the best, why you are the best company to deal with.
Good marketing delivers this.
