Every brand eventually finds its way to a point of indecision – which direction to grow, when to pull the trigger on a new initiative, or when to rest and maintain.
For every challenge you face, there are a million questions to be asked, a process that typically leads us to overanalyze, to rush to increase ad spend for more awareness and more eyeballs, and to look to technology for answers to dislodging the anchor.
In times like these, it’s natural to panic, pinpoint, plan and fix – especially when the dips seem suffocating compared to the distant peaks.
But the problem isn’t always something you can easily identify and poke with a stick.
Sometimes, it’s really just about getting to the starting line with enough confidence in the approach to take off.
Sometimes, it’s all about trial and error.
It’s what I admire most about the lean startup model. Iterate and refine once your product is in the market, and you’ll have real interaction to benchmark what’s working and what isn’t.
It’s also what baffles me the most about businesses that choose to hide behind hype instead of letting the bumps and bruises (and their customers) teach them how to improve their products.
It’s not to say that strategy doesn’t have its place at the table. But there is a definitive leverage point that can easily be missed when you’re stuck in perpetual planning mode.
Why guess at the right move behind the curtains when you can learn in real time? Why worry over the right direction when you can focus on aligning your efforts with the values of your brand?
Do this and the direction isn’t the distinction any more – it’s your ability to press the pedal to the floor when other brands are still idling at the line.
So go.
Tweak and refine the approach once you’re running the race.