Abstract
- “Lazy girl” strategy. Focus on impactful actions over quantity and adopt a lazy girl approach to increase efficiency.
- Strategic tool use. Invest wisely in tools and training to balance technology and human expertise for optimal results.
- Cut the excess part. Focus on data-driven decision-making for marketing success and regularly evaluate and eliminate ineffective strategies.
As marketers, we are constantly being asked to do more with less. Now more than ever, many marketing teams are struggling to cope with economic uncertainty, layoffs, and the inability to fill vacancies. Many of us feel like no matter how hard we try, we're always falling behind, due to pressure to perform and a lack of resources to do our best work. Burnout is delicious.
It's no wonder that marketing has one of the highest turnover rates in the industry, with the average tenure in a position being just 1-2 years.
Trend or fantasy?
Therefore, for many of us, the trend of the profession “lazy woman” feels like a fantasy. Are we working hard enough to succeed and resisting the hustle culture? This is an affront in an industry where overwork is not only rewarded, but expected. Email her campaign not running? Send more emails. Are social strategies insufficient? Post more content. It is believed that if something doesn't work out, it's because you're not trying hard enough.
In fact, this approach can have devastating effects. One more email from him could cause subscribers to flock to the unsubscribe button. And one more campaign could have burnt-out staff flocking to your door.
Related article: Quality over quantity: Why personalized marketing strategies are the future
reboot time
Time to reboot. Instead of always doing more with less, what if we could accomplish more with less? What if we made 2024 the year of “lazy” marketing and succeeded more than ever before? Is it? Here's how. Let's take a look at what Lazy Girl's marketing strategy looks like.
Lazy marketing strategy #1: Don't expect a tool to save you the day.
Too many teams invest in new or first-time tools, like account-based marketing (ABM) platforms, but don't invest the time and effort to train their staff or hire the talent to master them. This almost always manifests itself as a predictable failure. Teams struggle to get the platform up and running, don't have time to learn how to leverage it properly, tools get disconnected and seen as failed experiments, and products get trashy names forever . more.
But I didn't have to fail. The real mistake was buying tools to fill staffing gaps and not implementing change management to support it. The reality is that the only way to make your tools successful is to prioritize your strategy and invest in the people who will run it. Many marketers may fear being replaced by technology, but the truth is that investing in technology without investing in expertise is a waste of money. Companies must stop viewing talent as a cost center rather than a strategic asset.
Related article: 6 best practices to improve your digital marketing strategy
Lazy Girl Marketing Strategy 2: Focus on the results that matter
Email opens and click-throughs are vanity metrics, but we use them because they are readily available. But marketers need to focus on the tactics that drive leads and conversions: the business KPIs that actually matter.
This means honing your approach based on performance data. I once worked with a client who was trying to improve their email strategy. They were emailing a wide list but were unable to gain traction. We worked with our marketing team to build targeted messages for specific buyer personas, focusing on what really mattered to this specific audience segment.
But the board was furious. Both sends and instant conversions have decreased. However, long-term trend data showed that this strategy actually converts more people at a higher value. Despite this, the board forced the marketing department to switch to generic messaging, and engagement declined. Don't make the same mistake. Ignore vanity metrics and focus on what is proven to move people down the funnel.
The campaigns that generate the most volume are often not the same as the campaigns that generate the most revenue. For example, if you run a giveaway contest as a lead generation method, you could potentially generate 200 leads. But are they going to convert, or are they just signing up for the perks? Rather, campaigns that generate just 20 leads and still move 50% of people down the funnel Your time and resources are much more valuable.
Related article: Master personalization in your digital marketing strategy
Lazy girl marketing strategy #3: Ask, “What can I cut?”
know! What a foreign concept! Marketers never ask this question. They believe that the solution is always to do more or add more, rather than cull important parts. That's exactly how our time, budget, and sanity end up being spread too thinly. To cut down, collect data to understand the saturation point, understand how the channel changes over time, and do you really need to be in that space just because your competitors are there? , or whether your time, money, and effort are better spent elsewhere.
One company I worked with spent almost all of its marketing dollars on trade shows, investing heavily in things like booth presence and sponsorships. It was a staple at all major events. But there was never a bigger question: Isn't the audience the same at every show? Two or three programs are enough for him, so what if he shifts part of the budget to other channels?
Looking at historical data can give you insight into what is actually working and what is probably not worth the investment. This discovery can help you shift your time and budget toward more creative strategies, rather than staying stuck in the old cycle of spend, wash, repeat. One of the things that is most harmful to companies, he says, is inertia, the idea that “we've always done it this way.” Of course, you should do what it takes to keep your funnel working, but don't be afraid to cut out what doesn't work and experiment. Be ruthless. Trust me, mental walls are the hardest to overcome.
Related article: Customer-centric marketing strategy: Inside a leader's life
Final Thoughts on Lazy Girl Marketing
This is a famous quote by Bill Gates. “Choose a lazy person to do the hard work, because the lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” That's exactly what energy marketers need to bring in this year. Lazy”.
Marketing efficiency isn't about finding ways to do more with less. It's about accomplishing more with less, and in some cases that literally means accomplishing more with less. We may joke about being lazy, but “lazy” marketing doesn't mean a lack of effort. It means working smarter by deploying tools that help you better understand which activities are good for you and which are actually hurting you.
It's time to build an effective and efficient next-generation marketing strategy that cuts through the noise. In 2024, do no more. Make sure your actions matter more. The Lazy Girl marketing strategy may be just the ticket.
Plus, laziness is underrated.
Find out how to join our contributor community.
