Over 12+ years in marketing, I’ve watched nearly every channel and tool change at least once. What hasn’t changed once: the businesses that win are the ones that actually know their audience and go where that audience already is, not where marketing trends say to be.
The Same Strategy, Three Completely Different Channels
Early in my career, I worked with an ICP, or ideal customer profile, of elderly patients being referred to doctors. Social media wasn’t the answer; it wasn’t where they were. Print was. I put brochures directly in retirement communities, in the physical spaces this audience already spent time in. It worked because it met them exactly where they already were.
Compare that to the veterinary industry, where the audience, largely veterinarians and vet techs, lives on Facebook. Or the mortgage industry, where a lot of experienced brokers still use Bing, not Google, for daily search. Three completely different ICPs. Three completely different channels. Same underlying strategy: know exactly who you’re talking to, and go find them where they actually are.
Why “What Worked There” Doesn’t Automatically Work Here
The mistake I see most often is businesses copying a channel strategy from a completely different industry or audience, assuming it will transfer. It usually doesn’t. A channel isn’t good or bad in the abstract; it’s only right or wrong relative to a specific audience’s actual behavior. Facebook is exactly right for veterinary clients and would be the wrong bet for an audience like retirement-age patients who were never there in the first place.
How I Actually Figure Out Where an Audience Is
I test everything and fail fast. I don’t assume a channel will work because it worked somewhere else, and I don’t assume it won’t work because it’s “outdated.” I put a real test in front of a real audience, watch what actually happens, and adjust quickly based on results, not based on what’s currently trending in marketing conversations.
The Takeaway for Business Owners
Tools, platforms, and tactics will keep changing for as long as you’re in business. What won’t change is this: the businesses that win are the ones willing to actually study their specific audience’s behavior, even when the answer is unglamorous, like print brochures in a retirement community, instead of defaulting to whatever channel is dominating the conversation this year.
Know your ICP. Go where they actually are.
