If you own a company, there is a temptation to treat marketing the same way you buy office supplies. You find someone who has design software or you buy one yourself, and dial up a quick advertisement to tell people all about your products and services. Done. Box checked.

Not so fast. If you’re that focused on efficiency, you could have wasted money much easier by lighting it on fire. It’d be more entertaining anyway.

In fact, when it comes to marketing, there really must be a balance between “get it done” efficiency and “do it right” effectiveness. Most of the hard work happens before a designer ever touches a sketchbook or a mouse. Effectiveness thinking (versus efficiency thinking) requires a whole different set of questions:

– What defines us, and what are we trying to accomplish?
– What is our audience looking for?
– How many possible routes could we take to connect the dots?
– What unseen problems should we anticipate?
– Will our strategy still make sense a year or two down the road?

These questions and plenty more like them are the stuff of good business, which happens to be much of the same stuff that makes good marketing. They help you see your target, so when you’re ready to fire, you’re more likely to hit it.

The first step in a marketing strategy isn’t what your logo should look like, or how to start up a Facebook page. Set your social media strategy aside for the moment and focus on the message you need to convey, and why customers should care about you enough to stop what they are doing and give you their time, attention, and possibly their money.

Back in my art classes in high school, my sculpture teacher would always say “measure twice, cut once.” It’s a common saying, of course, but so easy to forget. If you take good measure of exactly what you are trying to accomplish, and what your real challenges are, you are much better positioned to get the results you are looking for. Maximum impact with minimal efforts. That, after all, is what being truly efficient is all about.