It’s a funny word, ‘perfection’.
We think of perfection as something that is absolute for any situation, however – it’s as much debatable as it is agreeable because it’s based on a range rather than an absolute. I’ll go into why the ‘perfect’ marketing campaign doesn’t exist later on, but for now let me add some context so you can understand my perspective.
Say for instance, you’re an avid Dance Dance Revolution player (don’t remember this game? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2e1tsnKkiI).
You could hit every key in sync, on time and amass a giant combo that lasts until the very last key. According to the system and the rules, that’s perfect. You’ve achieved the ability to hit every key on time according to the system.
But let’s think about how the key ‘strokes’ are captured. The moment that you depress your foot on the key, that’s a stroke.
The sad reality is, you’re probably not as good as you think you are.
You see, due to the nature of the game – developers have made it relatively easy for you to get a perfect hit (emphasis on relative). Instead of you being required to hit arrow on the floor at precisely the moment the arrow is exactly covering the guide, you’re instead targeting a range.
If the arrow is 5% higher or lower than precision over the guide, you’re still achieving a ‘perfect’ reading.. which if you think about it.. isn’t actually all that perfect.
As long as you’re 95% on the money, you’ll achieve ‘perfect’ status.
So where does this all come in? How does a Japanese game designed to help kids lose weight actually affect my perspective on perfection in marketing?
Because perfection as a whole, doesn’t exist.
There is no single way to perfectly craft and market to your entire audience (disclaimer: audience size greater than two, and no your mother doesn’t count).
But for those marketers chasing after the ‘perfect’ funnel, user journey, or user story with 100% conversions – there is hope.
Whilst we can’t have the perfect funnel, user journey, or user story for everyone in our audience, what we can have is – options.
We have the option to give every individual the best experience with our products.
The problem with digital marketing however, is that we can’t read an individual the same way as if we were to see them in person.
You can’t read body language when someone is staring blankly at your email at 4AM in the morning.
You can’t pinpoint the ‘aha’ moment on someone’s face when they read through the first 2 lines of your sales page.
You can’t hear the intimate conversations someone is having with the computer monitor every time they see your video sales letter.
Eventually, all your funnels and strategies you’ve created will lose it’s capacity to perform as well as when you started. So how do you combat this conversion corrosion?
Truthfully, and I hate to be the one that breaks this to you but – you can’t beat it. It’s an ever changing beast just like SEO, Social Media, Adwords and the entire Tech Industry.
What you can do, is manipulate your content to reach the majority of users who are providing you value to run your business. That’s the key. Identifying who your good and bad customers are, that’s an art in itself. To then take it one step further, it’s silencing the bad customers.
Even when they’re the most vocal audience you have, learning to have enough confidence in your brand, identity and products to push for just that little longer, can all be worth it if you allow acceptance and appreciation of change.