Add vs Improve

As marketers, we’re often better at adding than we are replacing.  We’re drawn to the shiny new object and less inclined to eliminate previously-shiny objects from the closet.

We add technology without determining let alone replacing parallel or overlapping tech that was in its place previously.  We launch new campaigns without evaluating and/or canceling the previous ones.

This isn’t true all the time of course.  But too often our drive to do more, add more, doesn’t couple with the equally important and arguably harder work of adjusting what had previously been done.  Sometimes that means less, sometimes it requires elimination.

In other words, we add but don’t necessarily improve.

If you add something new without improving the old, you’re carrying dead weight with you moving forward.  If you rightfully pursue a new idea without assessing and acting on its impact on existing or previous execution, you’re adding (or in this case keeping) unnecessary additional burden and work for your team that isn’t delivering optimal value.

Best case this adds to your already-heavy workload.  Worst case it makes that great new idea a zero-sum game.

Great marketers are constantly evaluating and testing new ideas.  But if done without equal evaluation and action on the status quo, it’s unlikely you’ll get the true potential focus and results you want and need.