#FOBO. Not a Typo.

You know that feeling when you’re trying to make a big decision, but you’re worried something better may come along any moment?

I’m not referring to a marriage proposal, or that new job offer.?

You’ve likely heard of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), but have you met its close cousin, FOBO--Fear Of Better Options? It’s so prevalent in marketing, that we made it our own hashtag! #FOBO

Here’s the deal: When it comes to crafting a marketing strategy and plan, options abound. We’ll often make choices based on:

• What the competition is doing
• Who’s been referred to us by a colleague
• What we’ve read last in the business press
• What’s the biggest priority this week ?on the biz dev “to-do” list?
• What about that new shiny piece of MarTech you’ve heard about in your mastermind group

The options start to blur into one muddled orb of uncertainty. Just like the Dawes song goes, “It's a Little Bit of Everything.” (Just get past the depressing first stanza, and "A Little Bit of Everything" is a romantic way to look at the rest of 2022.)

What If You Develop a Channel Agnostic View of These Decisions??

Often, the logic around marketing decisions and budget drivers seems linear; a real if-then construct:?

• If I need more new leads, I need to fish in a larger pond by advertising.
• If the website copy isn’t optimized for search, we’ll revamp the site content, meta descriptions, and page titles. Then we’ll get found when people search.
• Since lots of prospects will show up at conferences, virtual or otherwise;? I’m signed up.

When you ask the question, “Is [insert popularized tactic here] the right place to allocate resources?” the answer might be “yes.” There’s always a way to see the value of any approach.

• A brand refresh can help bolster your value prop to engage more new leads.
• Paid advertising will broaden your reach.
• Inbound will indeed help you attract middle of the funnel prospects.??

But, these choices aren’t easy to make because something has to give when you have real life budget limitations and ambitious profitability expectations.?

Having a lot of choices doesn't help you make a decision. Just think about the deodorant aisle at your local Walgreens, or that 15-page menu at the diner. I’ll have an omelet, thank you,? just to make life easy so we can move on.

Action Feels Good at the Time

Taking action feels good. Research points to the relief we feel when we cross things off our list. And, ambitious people are forward moving; action-oriented. I myself have been accused of being a bit Ready-Fire-Aim at times.?

But let me take you back to those moments in marketing-land that we’ve all encountered:

• "We were promised results from a one-off tactic, but the dream didn’t come true; results were tepid, the spend was gone, and promised we’d never spend another penny on marketing."
• "We went with our gut on what should work because we had investors to please, staff to retain, a sales team to keep busy….and there’s no passing the buck this time."
• "We avoided making the tough choice about what not to support with marketing and we invested in it all. But there wasn’t enough, so we didn’t really do anything well."

Marketing isn’t all by-the-numbers. But getting a reality check on what we can accomplish with the time and resources we have is what makes the difference between effective marketing, and random acts.

3 Ways to Cut FOBO Off at the Pass

First, let’s step back and ask the following questions:

• What audience can deliver the revenue you need in the time you have? While you may have long term growth objectives, how do they reconcile with your short term revenue needs? How do different purchase timeframes for alternative audience influence who gets the marketing dollars you have to spend?
• What do you own already that can support your marketing today before you spend on the new stuff? Is it right for your most promising audience?
• ?Where will you focus when it comes to the buyer’s journey? Do you have time and money for awareness? Or are there prospects in your database that you can nurture more economically?
• What’s your tolerance for time when it comes to growth? Some channels and initiatives take longer to seed than others.
• Even if you have a large investment to make in marketing your newly funded start-up, eyes will be on you. Are you ready to justify the channel strategy you’ve implemented beyond hearsay and competitive pressure??
• There is a strategic order to building business. How can you focus to yield the greatest impact on your growth goals??

Let’s see if we can identify the best options for your most urgent business goals before FOBO slows down the whole process.

Removing FOBO Starts By Looking Within

Start by framing success by looking inside first; outside later. How is success defined for you and your ultimate vision for success. Your marketing investment will look different if you’re looking for an exit than if you’re looking to acquire your nearest competitor.

Find permission to let go of certain strategies if they don’t map to your near term success metrics. If you spread your resources too thin, you won’t do any one thing well.?

Formulate a set of options that focus on these core choices, and you won’t take a second look at FOBO because they don’t make sense for your strategy today.?

Next up: Focus Pocus: It's Not Magic, It's Strategy

About Ilene Rosenthal

As a fractional CMO, I help ambitious leadership teams say bye-bye to the waste and risk inherent in most marketing plans.

My clients are ambitious B2B CEOs who have marketing and sales teams in place, but are still frustrated with the return on their marketing investment.

I also run the Marketing Strategy Lab for small business.??

After 16 years in? leadership roles on enterprise brands at Y&R, I’m the CEO of White Space Marketing Group, a marketing strategy consultancy established in 2012.