Trending
Written by: Joel Crampton
The fundamentals of good marketing are rarely complicated. Know who you're trying to reach. Say something useful. Show up consistently. Give people a clear next step. Pay attention to what works.
Simple enough.
The hard part is doing it well, week after week, month after month, while still running the rest of the business.
ONE BIG IDEA — Simple Marketing Requires Discipline
Most firms don't need a more complicated marketing strategy. They need a clear plan, strong ownership, and the discipline to keep executing after the initial enthusiasm fades.
The Simple Formula
- Choose a defined audience
- Communicate a useful message
- Use a manageable number of channels
- Follow a consistent schedule
- Measure the response
- Improve and repeat
Each step is easy to understand. The challenge is making them happen together through decisions, coordination, approvals, content, follow-up, and accountability.
That's where "simple" starts to feel hard.
A monthly newsletter may look like one email, but someone still has to choose the topic, write the copy, gather updates, design it, review it, handle compliance, build it, test it, send it, and study the results.
The same hidden work exists behind social media, websites, events, prospecting campaigns, and client communication.
The goal is marketing that's focused, repeatable, and easier to manage over time.
ONE FRAMEWORK — Turn the Simple Formula Into a Working System
A simple formula becomes useful when three things work together:
1. Strategy → Choose the focus
- Who are you trying to reach?
- What problem do you want to be known for solving?
- Which channels deserve attention?
- What should you stop doing?
Strategy keeps the firm from chasing every new idea, platform, or vendor.
2. Leadership → Make the decisions
Someone needs to set the calendar, assign responsibility, manage outside partners, move reviews forward, and protect the plan when new requests appear.
Without leadership, good ideas pile up while websites, newsletters, campaigns, and content sit waiting for approval.
3. Execution → Do the work consistently
Write the article. Build the email. Publish the post. Update the website. Follow up with prospects. Track the response.
Tools like HighLevel, HubSpot, Monday.com, and Canva can make execution more efficient, but they still need direction and ownership.
The formula is simple: Strategy decides what matters. Leadership keeps it moving. Execution brings it to market.
When one piece is missing, marketing becomes reactive, delayed, or disconnected. When all three work together, the plan becomes a system the firm can actually sustain.
ONE RESOURCE — 1 Page Marketing Plan
I created a free 1-page framework for solo and small-team RIAs that need a practical plan without a full marketing department.
It walks through 8 essential decisions:
- Ideal client
- Positioning
- Core message
- Channels
- Content engine
- Lead path
- Referral system
- Metrics
Use it to get the plan out of your head, onto one page, and in front of the people responsible for making it happen..
For a deeper look at building a complete growth engine, my book, Trailblazing Growth, expands the process across eight stages.
ONE NEXT STEP — Delete One Thing
Pick one marketing activity you already know isn't working and stop doing it. You have my permission!
Maybe it's a social channel nobody engages with, a report nobody reads, a recurring meeting that produces no decisions, or a campaign you keep running out of habit.
Pause it for 30 days and watch what happens.
- Does anyone notice?
- Do results decline?
- Does your team regain time?
- Does anything meaningful actually change?
You don't need to overhaul your entire marketing plan to simplify it. Sometimes the best next step is removing one thing that no longer earns its place.
Related: The Advisor Shortage Is a Design Problem. Treat It Like One.