The Myth of Marketing Completeness
You've seen the advice: "You need to be on TikTok." "Email marketing is essential." "SEO takes time but you have to invest." "LinkedIn is where B2B happens." "Video content is the future."
It's all true. And it's all killing your marketing results.
There's a dangerous belief in business that good marketing means doing everything. Having presence on every platform. Maintaining every channel. Executing every tactic.
This is a trap.
When you spread your resources—time, money, attention, creative energy—across eight different marketing channels, you don't get eight opportunities to succeed. You get eight opportunities to be mediocre.
What Focused Execution Actually Looks Like
A financial services firm we worked with came to us doing "a little bit of everything": sporadic social posts, inconsistent blogging, occasional email newsletters, and periodic networking events. They weren't growing.
We eliminated 60% of their marketing activities. They stopped posting on three social platforms. They paused their blog. They cut their networking events by half.
Instead, they focused on two things: a weekly LinkedIn thought leadership post and a monthly educational webinar for their existing client base that encouraged referrals.
Their lead generation increased 40% in ninety days. Not because they did more. Because they did less, better.
Four Questions to Eliminate the Wrong Tactics
1. Does this channel contain our ideal customers? It doesn't matter how effective Instagram marketing can be if your target audience isn't there. Stop chasing tactics that work for other businesses and focus on where your specific customers actually spend time.
2. Can we realistically execute this at a high level? Mediocre content on five platforms performs worse than excellent content on one. If you don't have the resources to do something well, you don't have the resources to do it at all.
3. Does this tactic compound over time? Some marketing activities build equity—SEO-optimized blog content, educational resources, relationship building. Others require constant feeding with nothing to show when you stop. Prioritize tactics that create lasting assets.
4. Can we measure what matters? If you can't connect a tactic to actual business results (not just vanity metrics), you can't improve it. Focus on channels where you can track real impact on revenue and customer acquisition.
The Courage to Subtract
Saying no to marketing tactics feels risky. What if that's the channel that would have worked? What if your competitors are gaining ground while you're absent?
But the real risk is diluting your efforts so thoroughly that you never build momentum anywhere. Every marketing channel you eliminate frees up resources to dominate the channels that actually matter for your business.
Your Action Plan
Look at your current marketing activities. Identify the 20% that's generating 80% of your results. Now consider: what would happen if you stopped everything else and doubled down on what's working?
You'd probably feel relieved. Your team would feel focused. And your results would improve.
The strategic power isn't in doing more. It's in having the discipline to do less, exceptionally well.
Need help identifying which marketing tactics deserve your focus and which ones are quietly draining your resources? Let's build a strategy around focused execution that actually drives growth.
