If your internet marketing initiatives are not generating the results you were hoping for, you can blame it all on Nike. That’s right; you have an air tight excuse for any of your marketing mishaps.
 
It’s not your fault. Nike told you to Just Do It. Just do what?

Just launch a new website without consulting an SEO expert and lose your existing Google rankings. Just put out a press release because you’re supposed to. Just run a paid search campaign and have no idea how many sales you are generating. Just sell the exact same products as your competitors because you don’t have the time to develop a better idea. Just start a corporate blog because blogging is all the rage—don’t mind the fact that no one in your office likes writing. Just do anything to make it look like you made an effort.

Just Do It All The Way

I have a problem. I have to do everything “right.” If I run paid search for a client, it has to produce results at an acceptable cost or I lose sleep. If I architect a website and develop copy, the site has to have an above average conversion rate. Although my clients love my dedication and results, my pursuit of perfection (I have a fear of looking bad) cuts into my company’s profits.

Doing something “right” is not about perfection. However, marketing should never be something you “just do.” Ultimately, marketing is about achieving business results through storytelling and, what I like to call, Creative Focus.

If you are like many of the people I speak with, you are overworked and under resourced.  You are fighting fires and “doing the best you can.” Flinging stuff out the door because you have to get it out the door. Your blackberry is about to burst into flames. (It happens to me too. Turns out I’m not perfect).  While I understand your pain and I am not advocating you push your team into paralysis by analysis, I cannot get with the Just Do It mentality.

The One Right Way to Do Anything

The only good way I have found to accomplish anything is through Creative Focus. I don’t really know if Creative Focus is the only good way to do things because I just made up the term 5 minutes ago. But it does work well and it’s kind of catchy. I better slap a TM on that sucker. I digress.

Creative Focus involves 1) having a perfectly clear goal, 2) being unattached to the way your goal will be achieved, 3) not letting circumstances limit your options, and 4) constantly improving results by asking yourself and everyone you are working with (including vendors) the following three questions:

1. What are the best tools and techniques to achieve our goal?
2. How can we best use the tools and techniques we have selected to achieve our goal?
3. In terms of achieving our goal, what’s working and what’s not working?

Asking these questions forces you to stop doing things that are not contributing—or not contributing their fair share—to the bottom line. Turns out not every business needs a blog. Hell, I own a search engine marketing agency and we don’t even use search marketing to promote our business. Not the best fit for us right now. So we Just Don’t Do It.

All I am really saying is you should expect more from your marketing efforts. And you earn the right to expect better results when you take the time to ask tough questions, demand truthful answers, and get straight about what’s working and what’s not. If you are going to pay Google $5,000 a month for paid search ads, at least make an effort to understand your return on investment.

After all, it’s not Nike’s fault if you don’t produce great results. They just make athletic gear and have a catchy slogan you took a bit too literally. Next time you feel the pull to “just do” something, stop and ask yourself why you’re doing it and how it is going to help you achieve your goals. If you don’t have a good answers, don’t do it.