The 3 by 1 Marketing Strategy

I have a marketing campaign strategy I use to help startups gain traction faster and for helping established companies troubleshoot faltering campaigns. The beauty of the strategy is it removes complexity. In marketing simplicity almost always outperforms complex strategies.

I call it the 3 by 1 Marketing Strategy.

It stands for:

One audience

One product/service

One channel

The big mistake is trying to market to everyone on every channel. 

Companies that have multiple products and services that may be for more than one type of buyer often struggle to get traction with audiences. They are afraid to speak to one segment for fear of alienating other segments, and their fear of “losing” business ends up limiting their growth. They are not able to connect with any one of their audiences on a deep enough level to break through the noise. 

Focus is the missing ingredient. 

Few companies have the resources, time, and energy to market to multiple segments at the same time, especially in the beginning and when they shift strategies and go all in on one segment, with one offer on their favorite channel, they achieve lift-off.

One Audience

The first step is to identify the Tribe you want to serve. If you are familiar with my book, I go deep into the details of creating your Tribe, but the summary of it is you want to identify the unique traits of your Tribe. Go deeper than their demographics and dig into their psychographics. What are their hopes and dreams? What are their fears of doing business with you? What would be their ideal outcome in a perfect world? By increasing your understanding of your audience, you will be better able to serve them and create messaging that connects with them and begins building trust.

One Product/Service

Contrary to popular belief, your mind is only able to focus on one thing at a time. When a brand tries to make too many different types of offers to an audience, the audience often gets confused and tunes everything out. The default decision of a confused mind is no. By deeply understanding the benefits and results of your product or service, you will be better able to create clear and concise messages for your one audience.

One Channel

Social media platforms vary wildly in the expectations of the users. The language and the way that users consume them is different. For instance, the channel I use the most LinkedIn is dramatically different than Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. LinkedIn is primarily a business focused platform where Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook are primarily for entertainment. You won’t see many dancing kitties on LinkedIn and if you post that type of content there, people won’t take you seriously. It is important to master a channel and understand the differences. One of the key mistakes brands make is to try and repurpose content between channels without understanding the differences and then they wonder why it fails. By focusing on a single channel for a long enough period of time to understand the key aspects of it, you will be far more likely to achieve success on your chosen channel.

Marketing with simplicity is underrated. 

I highly recommend you narrow your marketing focus and keep it simple.

TL;DR

1. Focus on one audience

2. Lead with one primary offer

3. Master one channel

Until next Saturday!