7 Ways Less Is More in Marketing

Less is more.

It's a common statement you hear from designers about the power of a simple, elegant graphic, or a page that has a lot of white space.

The benefits of simplicity and marketing go way beyond the look of a Web page. Here are seven ways less is more in your marketing program.

1. Brand

You want your brand to be so simple that people understand your story, why you exist in one or two words and with a very simple logo.

Sometimes it takes a while to get there, but that is the goal.

It's so easy to overcomplicate the look of your brand and the story that you tell.

Simplicity in your story also helps you to keep that story consistent. A lot of companies have different parts of the organization talking about who you are in a different way. That confuses the market and your prospects.

Also, a simpler story has a better chance to remain the same over time. Another common shortfall of marketing is a story that changes too often. Your prospects don't have time or attention to keep up with those changes, and they don't know who you are.

2. Target market

Keep your target market as tight and small as possible.

That's counterintuitive, I know. The power of a very focused target market is that is allows you to create a very personalized, impactful story that appeals to the people that you can really help.

It also helps your marketing to be more actionable because you can define literally a

list of r companies that you can target with your B2B marketing.

The Spillover Effect takes it from there. This dynamic is that the people outside of your target market will be drawn to what you're doing for those customers that love you so much.

3. Content

Simplicity goes beyond the classic design truth we talked about.

• Websites often have too many pages.

• Companies often sign up to post on a dozen channels social media channels when there are one or two that are relevant for their targets.

• Too many emails just disrupt your clients versus less frequent communications that are offering value so that when they do interact with you it's on their terms, and they're getting something from it.

• Video can always be shorter these days.

4. Tech Stack

Your tech stack is a great opportunity to simplify your marketing.

I like to apply the 80 20 rule. If you try to solve everything with different platforms, you'll end up with too many systems. They seem free when you sign up for them. But there's a tax of having to manage them and have different sets of data and reports.

It's a competitive advantage to have a few platforms that you're really taking advantage, while your competitors are being bogged down with too many dashboards and processes.

5. Marketing campaigns

Campaigns also can become Manhattan Projects.

People try to do too much with one program, and often - too often - they never even get completed because they have an 18-month time frame and the world changes in that time.

Simpler programs that grow as you learn are more effective.

6. Sales collateral

Companies often create too much sales collateral.

Research by ShowPad found that 86% of buyers thought that 10

pieces of collateral was too many and 50% thought five was too many.

Make your information more succinct and more intuitive. Communicate with actions if possible, rather than talking about what you do.

7. Marketing investment

Your overall marketing program can be bloated and get in your way of success.

Less marketing is often more impactful.

There's an arms race out there when it comes to marketing programs, technologies and vendors. Thousands of vendors. And they all want your money.

You're under a lot of pressure to do too much.

Look for the few areas where marketing can make the biggest difference in your business and focus on them. Maybe it's three things. Make that work. Then you'll know where to expand and spend more.

Avoid just spinning a bunch of plates with marketing efforts that other people are doing and it feels like you should be doing, but they actually don't make a difference for your business.

Marketing less can have a bigger impression on your customers than doing as much as you possibly can.

Think about all of the things you're doing with marketing and consider doing less.