Focus on the Fundamentals, not the Fluff

How many times do you see a company come up with a catchy marketing campaign but you see right through it?  We know our experience with that company was nothing like they want us to believe.  They focus their message on an image not on their identity.  They have a new product full of flash but we have a hard time believing they can even cover the basics because our experience with them was a functional nightmare.  Regardless of whether we are talking about product development, marketing or even your own personal goals, stop focusing solely on the flash and not enough on the substance!

The first thing is to build a solid foundation.  If you are trying to reach your goals make sure you understand the core principles of what you are trying to accomplish.  I have made this mistake in the past and one time really stands out.  I was in college and spent most of my time eating junk food and drinking beer.  Of course, my health was not my focus but I still saw the need to get in shape.  Instead of adjusting my systems to accomplish my goals I saw a revolutionary product that would magically help me melt away pounds without any extra effort on my part.  It was an electronic belt that shot electricity into your abdomen causing your muscles to spasm.  The message was simple.  You wear the belt and it works out for you.  As you probably already figured out, it didn’t work.  

Building a foundation means avoiding shortcuts but it also means working on the little things.  Football coaches are notorious for saying that the team needs to get back to fundamentals when they struggle to win but this is key for life, not just football.  Doing the little things is important and will add up.  A company that doesn’t have good systems for customer service might suddenly find that they have a PR problem that can’t be solved easily.  But if they make the effort to take care of the little things, in this case their individual response by their customer service team, they can gain a solid reputation that they could then build on top of.  Without this solid foundation and doing the little things, they will have to spend more marketing dollars just to convince their customers that they fit a certain image.

Building a solid foundation and doing the little things often means that we have to do the things that others aren’t willing to do.  We have to make the cold calls, handle unhappy customers, improve our diet and exercise etc.  We have to get around the current mindset in society which says to find the shortcut.  Instead we need to be willing to do what is necessary, even if it is unpleasant.  

Too often we deceive ourselves and focus exclusively on the fluff and not on the fundamentals.  The extras are only valuable if you have built a solid foundation.  Do that by avoiding shortcuts and doing the little things that are necessary but too often overlooked.  If you are willing to do what others are not, you will start to get what others cannot!