Mastering the Tools You Already Own

Image by dipster1 via Flickr

What else do you need? What magic wand are you looking to acquire? Is it possible that you have everything you need?

As a parent, one of the most interesting discoveries is the first time your child asks the innocent question, “Is there anything else? This is usually unveiled at a birthday or holiday party in front of friends and family. Personally, for me the first time I was embarrassed. I wasn’t embarrassed because of what she said as much as what others thought. I could hear their silent glares. And of course, they had to be scrutinizing my parenting skills. Because as a parent, I knew she had everything she needed.

I read hundreds of blogs, monitor and engage with thousands of Twitter and Facebook friends. And like everyone else, all of us are wanting to be at the front of latest new thing. We all want to be trend setters and first to market with the latest and greatest communications or digital marketing tool.

I recently watched Chris Penn being interview by Greg Cangelosi of Blue Sky Factory and Chris shared a story from a martial arts master that emphasized to his students the importance of mastering the basics. Once you master the basics than you can graduate on the the next technique.

Which leads me to this that, “What if everything you need to succeed online you already possess?” What if the only thing you needed to do was not to collect more information, but master what you already have? What would your web presence look like in 12 months if you mastered:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
2. SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
3. Email Marketing
4. Mobile Marketing
5. Social Media

Now I’m aware that you may not reach the guru state of those that execute these disciplines on a daily basis, but what would happen if you committed your brand, small business, organization to diligently using the tools, strategies and tactics that are already available to you.

I guarantee that your traffic would increase, you would generate more leads, there would be more conversation around your brand, and eventually there would be more sales.

As we get closer to the new year, and we’re mapping out our goals, perhaps we should dust off our toolbox full of tools, ebooks, podcasts etc., and commit to mastering the things we already possess.

What can we all do to “crush it” in the new year?

Feel free to share on Twitter or leave a comment. If you’re new to davidsfinch.com, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or receive free email updates. You can also follow me on Twitter @DavidFinch. Thanks for visiting.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Building Blocks of Social Media for Business (chrisbrogan.com)
• Integrate Social Media into Your Marketing Strategy (kylelacy.com)

The post Mastering the Tools You Already Own appeared first on David S. Finch.