Guest Post by David Newman of Do It! Marketing
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Marketing speakers and marketing consultants are famous for packing in “over 100 strategies you can use immediately” and “97 secrets” or “51 immutable laws” of this and that.
Problem is – those numbers are too high. You don’t need 100, you can’t implement 97, and you’ll never get a handle on 51.

You need three or four, max. Three strategies. Or four tactics. Used with focus, momentum, and consistency…

Less is truly more. Here’s Picasso’s take on it:

You must always work not just within, but below your means. If you can handle three elements, handle only two. If you can handle ten, then handle only five. In that way, the ones you do handle, you handle with more ease, more mastery, and you create a feeling of strength in reserve.

– Pablo Picasso

If any one thing characterizes the time in which we live, it is the tendency to strive and to overreach and to want more, more, more, now, now, now.

The problem with multi-tasking and this go-go-go pattern of life and work is that there is no room for mastery, for ease, for “strength in reserve.”

• If you want to get more done, work more slowly.
• If you want it faster, develop a singular focus.
• If you want to get better, do less.

The age of better-faster-cheaper is over. And you know what? Even if you want better-faster-cheaper, the internet has already raised the bar on you because it has brought with it the expectation of perfect-now-free. You can’t win that game.

Success, according to Picasso’s definition of “mastery, ease, and reserve” is much like the great pot roast recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation in three simple words:

Low and slow.

You can’t make a good pot roast quickly.

In a hurry? Fine.

Start cooking it sooner.

Buy good meat.

Make your own stock. Don’t open a can.

Use fresh vegetables cut to the right size.

Add only the things you like and what you know tastes good. (Hate potatoes? Don’t add them – it’s YOUR pot roast!) Take care blending the ingredients.

Cook it low and slow. (This seems like a good recipe for marketing, relationships, and life, too!)

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David Newman is a nationally-acclaimed marketing speaker known for his high-content, high-energy presentations laced with humor, “do-it-now” tools, and immediately actionable take-aways. David speaks to groups of professionals who want to attract, engage, and win more customers – NOW more than ever!

Tagged as: Strategy, Value Proposition