My little guy – a breath away from age 4 next month – had his first-ever swimming lesson earlier this month. As many parents, the height of anticipation and expectation was overwhelming for me – I wanted him to have the perfect swim stroke and a great flutter kick right from the first minute. My own miniature Michael Phelps.
And, he did well – not perfect, but listened to his teacher and paid attention. When it came to the free time of class, he was insistent on swimming off to the deep end. The worrier mom that I am, I kept saying no, but he kept taking his kickboard and heading towards the unknown. It was a hard lesson to explain to my strong-willed toddler that he needed to work his way up and learn more before he was ready to swim to the deep end.
Sure, the story is about my son but the same principle applies in all aspects of life and especially to marketing – so often, we launch a product without laying any ground work to get to the deep end of the sales cycle, expecting to have this immediate return on investment. A good marketing launch takes time, builds upon different principles using the approaches of public relations, direct mail and advertising.
If you increase your exposure step by step you can ensure that your audience learns the basics and the benefits and builds trust in what you’re teaching and telling them. And in turn, your audience is excited and ready to try something new. So, before you send your new innovation to market, make sure you’ve educated your audience. It will save you from drowning amongst your competition.
