Ah, “Do It Yourself”, or DIY. It’s a term that can apply to many areas in one’s life. DIY home renovation, DIY cake decorating, and, you may even hear “do it yourself!” come out of your spouse’s mouth the next time you ask them to do your laundry. But, should the term DIY be thrown in the mix with marketing? Is it really a good idea? And, better yet, is it really effective?
No, it’s not.
And, you may have already discovered that on your own. Have you been implementing DIY marketing and just aren't achieving the results you were hoping for? You’re not alone! Chances are, you’ve set up a good foundation for yourself, but DIY marketing just isn’t going to take you where you want to be.
Here are 3 reasons why DIY marketing is not working for you:
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Lack of Resources
When you’re first starting out with DIY marketing, it’s easy to try and cut corners. You’re just doing it yourself (see what I did there?), doing as much research for tips and tricks as you can, and then trying to find ways to implement those tips and tricks without busting your budget. And that means cutting corners. I get it; it’s tough when you have a lack of resources. But to do marketing right, you need to do it right. #Amiright? That means investing in the proper tools, analytics, etc. that are going to make you successful. It will be a struggle, but it’s a sacrifice your budget needs to make. -
Lack of Ideas
The “yourself” part of DIY is honestly the toughest. It implies that you are doing it alone. And when you’re a one-man team, the lack of ideas can be extremely detrimental. It’s crazy to see how differently other people interpret or perceive things than you, and that’s when the best ideas are formed. When you’re doing it all alone, you can get stuck in a rut and it’s hard to think outside of the box or solve problems effectively. I am in favor of “DIT” instead of “DIY” – “do it together”. -
Lack of Discipline
It’s easy to discredit yourself and make excuses with DIY marketing. You may think, “Well, I’m just DIY marketing and doing the best that I can with what I’ve got” so if you fail, you kind of expected it. This also causes a lack of discipline, and discipline is most important when you’re in a DIY situation. Without discipline, how are you going to hold yourself accountable for results and quality? And, are you going to be disciplined enough to keep learning and keep trying new things? It’s tough, and perhaps the greatest discipline required of all is having enough of it to be patient and not pull the plug on your marketing campaigns when something isn’t working right away.
Now here are the ways you can fix it:
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Invest in Your Marketing
Do it. Marketing is not dispensable in any organization, and if you treat it like it is, yikes. To get a lot out of it, you need to put a lot into it. Know that it’s worth it in the long run and that it is so much better than cutting corners with DIY. -
DIT
Do it together! Whether that means hiring somebody else in your organization, working with a friend or mentor, or hiring a marketing agency, it’s critical you get somebody else’s eyes, ears, and expertise infused into your marketing ASAP. When you have a team working towards the same goal, you’ll be amazed at how much you can get accomplished and the results that you’ll see. And, better yet, you won’t be at a loss for ideas and solutions for even the trickiest of marketing obstacles. Just knowing you’re not in it alone makes all the difference sometimes. -
Fall in Love (With Marketing)
Look, we all start out as DIY marketers. Whether you studied it in college or you got hired as a marketing manager for an organization and you’re actually getting paid to do it, it doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing. Yet. To get out of the DIY phase, you need to fall in love with marketing. And I mean it. You have to be obsessed with it – live it, breathe it. Subscribe to as many relevant blogs as you can, set up an RSS feed, join a community, go to meetups, become a thought leader. And, most importantly, don’t be afraid to actually try something. All of the new best practices in marketing? Somebody took a risk, tried something new, and then it worked. Be the next person to do that!
There you have it. If DIY marketing isn’t getting you the results you want, making these changes will. Remember, everyone starts out as a DIY marketer; (yes, even you Chief Marketing Officer). It’s what you do to get out of DIY marketing that counts. If you want some help (remember, DIT!), we’re all about it at Revenue River. See how we helped a client take their DIY marketing to the next level with some good old fashioned DIT collaboration and creative problem solving by downloading our case study below.
