From online lead conversion to content marketing to transaction management, there are so many items to manage if we want to run a tech-savvy business.

photo credit: Yvonne L Sweden via photopin cc

In an attempt to solve this problem, technology gurus and vendors often tout neatly packaged, turn-key solutions that will render our competition helpless and cause clients to flock to us as though they had no other option. But in trying to implement an out-of-the-box, one-size-fits-all approach, you may find you’ve created a monster.

Teaching an Old Dog

This is how many of us make decisions about technology solutions: We hear some slick-talking sales type make it sound “so easy a child can do it” and we throw down our credit card for a chance at finally finding “the easy button.”

Now, that’s not to say you don’t need a comprehensive technological solution. The problem with what vendors are trying to sell you is that a full-grown turn-key solution does not conform to your existing strategies. The best you can hope for is to learn how it behaves (your learning curve), its eating habits (cost), and its capabilities and limitations (features and functionality). And then you have to reinvent yourself to fit this old dog’s tricks.

If you want a system that will consider your skills, strengths, experience, and individual marketplace, you’re going to have to build it yourself.

Raising Your Tech Specs

The first step when employing any new technology solution is preparing your business for the arrival of your new pet. You must have a marketing plan and a strategy for implementing that plan. Your plan should focus on the things that turn-key solutions ignore: your skills, strengths, experience, and environment.

So, let’s put the technology aside for a moment and answer some basic questions. Who or what is your target market? Do you farm geographically or demographically? Do you target short sales or equity listings? Move-up buyers or first-timers?

Take some time to uncover the needs and motivation of your target clientele. Once you know your consumer’s motivation, determine the perfect message to communicate that you have a solution to their needs.

How do you deliver this message? How do you measure if this is the right message? How do you determine if or when you need to modify your approach?

Now that you have a clear vision of how you will market your business outside of the tech question, you can begin to look for the tools that will help to make this method of communication more efficient, easier to track, and simpler to replicate.

Managing Your Tech-spectations

Introducing technology into your marketing strategy should only be for the purposes of augmenting, automating, or amplifying your existing efforts. Buying into a turn-key, done-for-you, “easy button” solution and expecting the technology to be the foundation of your marketing strategy is counterintuitive and destined to fail.

Nothing will make your business work if you’re not working on your business. Don’t be romanced by the lofty promises that some software can magically fix all of your problems. The behavior, habits, and work ethic of successful business people are just as important and effective now as they have ever been.

If you have the aptitude, resources, and support system in place, technology can certainly help you grow your business in today’s market.