Building the plane as we fly

Now I am normally not such a lover of overused corporate jargon, but here we are talking about building a plane in the sky (as we fly.) I do love to rhyme, however…

But why am I using this saying

Because I feel like there is this overwhelming belief amongst the business owners I talk to that everything has to be a certain way before we can take off and fly…

And sure in the case of actual aviation as a terrible flyer this is true. Please do not fly an imperfect plane.

BUT in the case of running a business, more often than not, the throw something into the world and test test test is actually the BEST way to do things.

It allows us to research and understand our market.

There is also a paralysis that comes from thinking:

If I get my message perfect (what is perfect?)

If I get my models perfect (when did Models trump the four Ps?)

My product needs to be perfect (once again what is perfect?)

And so on and so forth, you get the point.

The trouble I see with being so rigid because you “did all the work and figured it all out” before flying the plane is it doesn’t allow for inflight feedback (really holding onto this plane analogy for dear life here.)

The best way to create marketing that works is to use feedback and research as your north star, as this essentially reminds you your marketing isn’t about YOU. It’s about your market aka your customer.

You creating without seeking feedback means that you are…

You guessed it…

Only marketing to yourself.

Your market doesn’t care about the perfectly crafted model that you made

Or the elaborate things you’ve done in the background to be the best in the marketplace…

They care about how you are going to help them. Period.

Done, or doing, and seeking feedback always trumps perfect.

Bec

xx