Marketing is Like Grilling Steaks
I have two real passions in my life, marketing my businesses and grilling steaks on the patio.
You might be wondering how these two passions intersect. Actually there are a lot of similarities between the two.
To grill great steaks, there are three basic things you need: Good meat, a good fire and patience. If you have these three basic ingredients down pat, you can be known as the grill-meister on your block.
I have two sources for the steaks I grill. There’s a meat market in town that has superior meat to what the local Walmart offers. I often purchase my steaks at this little hole-in-the-wall meat market.
The second source is once a year, I purchase a half beef from an area rancher. He raises his own beef and takes great pride in feeding them just the right amount so when butchered, the meat is tender and tasty. If you don’t have good meat to start with, the fire and patience won’t improve your medicore meat.
In my humble opinion, most amateurs cook their steaks over too hot a fire. We like our steak meduim to rare and they’re cooked over a low fire. For those of us who like our meat pink, a hot fire increases the risk of over-cooking the steak. Once over-cooked, you can’t go back.
The last ingredient in great steaks is patience. Don’t rush the meat, let it cook slow and it’ll turn out right. Using this system almost guarantees great steak 100% of the time.
Likewise, marketing your business successfully consists of basic ingredients: a marketing plan, marketing tools and patience.
Like good meat, you have to start with a marketing plan. Hint: a marketing plan is not two paragraphs in your business plan! You need a marketing strategy and how you’re going to execute it. That’s a practical explanation what a marketing plan is.
Your marketing plan defines what marketing tools you’re going to use, when you’re going to use them and how you’re going to implement them to your greatest advantage. Now let me ask you, do you have a working marketing plan?
Secondly, your marketing tools are just like the fire you grill your steaks over, not too hot, not too cool, but just right.
Jay Conrad Levinson’s book, Guerrilla Marketing listed over 100 potential marketing tools. Some tools work for just about any kind of business, others don’t. Others are seasonal, unusual, traditional or even quirky. But it’s up to you to pick what marketing tools will work for your kind of business and put them to use.
My dad used to tell me when I was a kid that a hammer hanging on the shelf in the tool shed wouldn’t build a barn.
Patience is a virtue. Is that in the Good Book? It seems like everything in life that’s worthwhile requires patience. Just like when I’m grilling steaks, I don’t get in a rush or impatient. I know if I have great meat and the right fire, in the process of time, I’m going to have some great steaks.
It’s the same with marketing your business. You need patience. Marketing works and usually it takes a little while for it to show results. Be patient, don’t quit too soon, your efforts will soon pay dividends.
