How to Overcome ‘Simple Internet Marketing Tactic Overload’
By Anna Johnson on May 1st, 2009The other day I was chatting with an Internet marketer about a simple Internet marketing tactic. Since it was a small measure that someone could literally do in less than a minute, this Internet marketer posed the question of why, since it was so quick and easy, more people didn’t do it.
While I don’t claim to know the answer, it occurs to me that many Internet marketers may be suffering from ‘simple Internet marketing tactic’ overload.
If you’ve heard of the ‘paradox of choice’ you’ll know of research indicating that when people are confronted with too much choice, they are less likely to make ANY choice at all, than if they were given just one or a few choices.
When it comes to choice, what is ‘just right’, and what is ‘too much’, will vary according to the situation. But I don’t think it’s far-fetched to think that Internet marketers are regularly confronted with advice on literally hundreds of tactics and ways to market online.
Spend a few minutes scrolling through the first few pages of a popular discussion board like the Warrior Forum and you’ll be confronted with all kinds of strategies, tactics, tools and ideas right there. I’ll also be the first to admit that this blog and newsletter, Kikabink News, also provides tons of ideas for marketing online.
What’s more, in many cases, the advice can be freely, quickly and simply applied – ranging from opening an account on a social network, to quickly writing an article, to implementing a plugin on your browser, to all kinds of other things.
With so many tips and tactics in circulation, it’s not surprising if many Internet marketers become so paralysed by choice they end implementing none of the quick and simple ideas as part of their Internet marketing strategy.
So what’s the solution? Well, here’s how we approach ‘simple Internet marketing tactic overload’ here at Kikabink. And, trust me, we’re as awash in ideas and tactics as any other Internet marketer.
Firstly, since we publish this blog and newsletter, you can bet that we don’t avoid new information. In fact our initial reason for starting Kikabink News was to keep up with the flow of Internet marketing news, research, tools, etc.
But we can’t possibly capitalize on every single idea that we come across either. Instead, we:
1. Remind ourselves of the concept of ‘opportunity cost’ so that, as much as possible, we spend our time, money and other resources, on those activities that generate, not ‘high returns’ but the HIGHEST returns.
2. Record and catalogue the idea – i.e. by way of publishing it in Kikabink News which, in turn, is archived;
3. Consider the tactic in light of our current priorities i.e. what we are working on now which we believe will help us best achieve our goals; and
4. If the tactic complements what we are already doing and/or promises to accelerate our progress towards achieving our goals, we’ll implement it. If it doesn’t, we won’t… regardless of how simple and quick it may appear to be.
I like this approach because it allows us to:
- Optimize our time
- Keep track of the latest Internet marketing developments
- Constantly monitor our progress in the sense that every time we consider a new tactic we do so in light of where we are… compared to where we want to be
- Avoid losing track of the ‘big picture’ by going off and applying a ton of ‘simple’ tactics that we may not substantially benefit us
Now, we’re not perfect, and the truth is that it’s an ongoing challenge for me, in particular, to stay focused. Also, being a recovering perfectionist, I often have to overcome the temptation to spend an inordinate amount of time making something better than it needs to be.
And let’s not kid ourselves – sometimes it’s not clear whether or not to jump on something, given that some things may provide long-term, rather than short-term, benefits. (Hence my tendency to register domain names for projects we ‘might’ do in the future!). For the most part, however, we stick to this approach and have reaped the rewards accordingly.
This may be an approach that works for you too.
In your case, you don’t need to create your own database of Internet marketing developments . After all, you’re welcome to use the Kikabink News repository, along with the stores of information on various other sites.
All in all, though, I would urge you not to ‘do nothing’ despite the onslaught of information. And really, when you think about it, mastering ‘simple Internet marketing tactic overload’ is just as possible as navigating a bookstore containing a few thousand diverse books.
When you have a clear purpose, and make a concerted effort to avoid distraction, you’ll find exactly what you need to help you make progress towards your goals.
