When I talk to people who are either starting out or revamping their marketing they often have a strong urge to start with “best practice”.

They've seen a webinar on some fancy automated funnel. Or they've seen how well someone is doing running Facebook ads.

The trouble is, these are advanced tactics.

If you try to do them on day 1 you'll struggle.

Partly it's because you're not ready. You don't hit a drive 250 yards on your first day playing golf. You need to learn how to hold the club, how to stand, how to swing.

All the skills needed for a great drive take time and practice.

And it's the same with advanced marketing tactics. We can't just “model the best” because we don't have their skills and experience (or support teams).

And partly it's because on day 1 you won't have your fundamentals in place.

All great marketing is built on a bedrock of targeting your very best clients, deeply understanding their problems and goals, and being able to articulate the value you'll bring to them in a compelling way.  

You have to be very lucky indeed to figure that our on day 1.

Instead, it takes feedback and iteration.

That's why it's unwise to build complex automated systems on day 1: they're difficult to change.

Much better to try things out on a small scale, work with potential clients personally, get their feedback directly and observe first hand the impact your marketing has on them.

Iron out the creases first by hand before you try to automate or add in more complex, inherently fragile systems.