Are you facing conflicts in which marketing direction to go in? Should your brand enter into ever increasing social platforms? Are your Facebook page insights telling you you’re being ‘liked’ in ever decreasing percentages? Are you communicating the one mass message to all your customers on your database?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then read on. It won’t take long and it may just create a little marketing catharsis.

Where does hay come from?

Well of course you know it’s just grass, cut, dried and then stored to feed animals.

Where does grass come from?

Well of course you know it’s from grass seeds, blown in the wind and also transported by insects or animals.

Where does the earth come from?

Well who knows, but let’s stop there and say that we have a product called hay and it’s affected by all sorts of things before we come to know it as hay. And it also affects things further on in its lifecycle.

Hay is eaten by animals. Animals that we kill to eat. And therefore a % of our body is made up of hay. Unless you’re a vegan or vegetarian in which case you may have a % of grass seed in you anyway which means, you too, actually have some hay in you.

The lifecycle effect

So when you think about the lifecycle of something there’s often an indirect cycle and a direct cycle.

A customer’s lifecycle is no different. There are indirect influences (things that are outside our control and that influence a customer’s life) and there are direct influences (things that we, as product and service marketers, can affect).

And as you can see with the lifecycle of hay, things are very different at each stage in the cycle.

So if things are different at different stages and, as humans, we are also all very different, then why do so many marketers send out mass communication to their customers forgetting about the stage the customer is in? Why send mass email, mass SMS, and treat all people in your social media as one?

A little hay gazing will help you find the answer

If  you’re a little confused in which marketing direction to go in may I suggest you drive into the country, stand on the side of the road and remind yourself of where hay comes from and goes to.

Please take into account a customer’s lifecycle and plan a strategy and communications program for each relevant stage. Maybe you need a workshop to harvest the right hay…