If you have ever taken the subway in London then you know it’s called the Underground. As your train pulls into your station, you hear a message telling you to “mind the gap”. The gap is the space between where you are [on the platform] and where you want to go [the entry doors of the train when it stops at your station]. You literally have to step up to get on your train, and also make sure you do not lose anything in the gap space as you get on.
This is a great analogy for those building out their marketing plans and structure.
You have to mind your gaps.
Mind the gaps in your thinking, planning and strategy. Mind the gaps in the skills of your team. Mind the gaps in your tools and processes.
If you haven’t been running consistently successful marketing campaigns and activities, then you might have a gap in what you need to plan out as you begin. Without a solid strategy and a track record you can scale, you may have a gap to fill in order to get there. It could be that you just lack a solid sales process and things are getting lost. Or maybe you aren’t focusing on the right things altogether.
If you or your staff, or team, gets stuck because you don’t know how to perform a specific task or complete that project, then you might have a gap in skillset. It is quite easy to train on new skills with courses, online tutorials, workshops, and even searching for specific training videos. When what you need to do exceeds your current skills, or your competency, then it’s time to mind the skillset gap.
If you are automating your marketing activities, then you need to ensure that you are not leaving any gaps for customers fall off through your sales process. You may have way too many tasks at hand with not enough week to get them done. If you don’t have enough time to get everything done or find you are repeating some tasks that could be performed in more efficient ways, then you are probably better off automating soe of those tasks. Automation tools such as email marketing systems, image and video editing tools, social media posting, or project management tracking apps can really help you stay on track with your activities. On the other hand, if the tools are not setup properly or used effectively, then you might have gaps where activites are missed.
Any system or process that runs your business also has the potential to lose valuable time, energy or even data. Taking great care of your prospects and your customers is the top goal. Making sure that every touchpoint your customers experience is high level and that loop is closed is crucial.
The “funnel” or customer journey begins when someone opts in to your email list. The path needs to be tight so the customer is clearly led to the next steps. If you are getting unsubscribes or drop offs from your site or landing pages, you will want to close those gaps. You might also test for gaps from your ads and posts to ensure you are optimizing your opt in options and calls to action.
What about your business? Are you sure you don’t have any gaps?
We suggest you start with your initial contact with a prospective customer and test for gaps along the way. Just do what you can to mind your gaps in these areas first since gaining customers is the main goal of every business.
You can get lost in “all the things”… if you try to mind all the gaps all at once.
Just start from where you are!
Ardent Skills 