Imagine a simple activity like flipping on the lights took 47 steps and a room full of machinery to complete. This is the general idea behind Rube Goldberg Machines—you take a simple action, like flipping a switch in our example, and deliberately create a overly complex machine to perform that function.
While this may make for a fun and exciting YouTube video, imagine how quickly you’d tire of having to use such a contraption every time you wanted to turn on the lights in your office. Unfortunately, this complexity happens all too commonly with inbound marketing systems. The end result is usually poor performance, because you just don’t have the time or inclination to use your marketing systems. How can you get your inbound marketing systems back on the right track?
Use the Right Tools
This is by far the easiest to understand in theory, but in practice it is a little more difficult. While you could, given enough force, embed a screw in a board with a hammer, you should really be using a screwdriver. This same concept holds true on the web; don’t assume just because you can do something with a tool that it is the best solution. For example, you could send out your email newsletter using a free email client like Gmail—it is just an email after all—but you should use a tool like Mailchimp instead as it is designed specifically to send out newsletters.
Stay Focused
The biggest enemy to simplicity in inbound systems is lack of focus. Spend just 5 minutes reading marketing blogs or newsletters on the internet and the next thing you know you’re setting up a YouTube studio in the office, Snapchatting your workday, and Instagramming your office lunch instead of writing the email announcing your summer savings or blog post detailing that new service you just launched. Staying focused will allow you to ensure you’re at the top of your inbound game.
Do What Works
Part of staying focused is doing what works. If you’ve spent 10 years and $100,000 on YouTube videos and you’ve never gotten a client from your efforts, it is safe to say that isn’t working and you should be investing the time and money elsewhere. The best methods aren’t always the most attractive or trendy. It certainly may be more fun to say you’re a YouTube star than the world’s foremost expert in live chat, but if customers are pouring in from all those live chats, that’s where you need to focus.
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
Imagine you dropped your phone and needed a replacement. Would you start gathering electronic components and building a new one or would you go to the nearest mobile phone store? I’m going to guess you’ll be at the mobile phone place talking features before the hour is out. Inbound marketing systems are no different. You don’t need to code your own social media scheduling tool l since great tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, Sprout Social and HubSpot already exist.
By making your inbound marketing systems simple, functional and effective you’ll be able to enjoy the results of successful marketing.
