The lean approach is a powerful tool to maximize our budget for two reasons:

1. It allows us to develop a strategy with little friction and/or extra investment.
2. It helps us test out our ideas in smaller, controlled environments without committing to big projects that might as well flop.

But what’s the lean approach?

It is a project implementation method to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) to test its reception before investing vast amounts of money in an idea that might fail…

Or, as I like to call it, “The Toe-Dipping Strategy.” Because it allows us to start our projects quickly but without driving head-on into uncertainty.

Now, I keep talking about products… and if you have a service-based business or are a reseller, you might think, “Very well, but… what does it have to do with me?”

A whole lot, indeed.

The lean approach was first developed as a manufacturing system that many scholars associate with Toyota. But it is so efficient and adaptable that we can apply it in pretty much any context.

The Lean Approach Applied to Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is highly dynamic and complex. We can go deep or broad with it, and its reach is pretty much limitless… within the digital world, that is, of course.

This amplitude pushes us to choose our battles wisely.

So, it is critical for an efficient digital marketing strategy to stay focused on what truly matters to help our companies grow.

Thus, the lean approach to digital marketing incites us to experiment progressively and optimize our efforts. It helps us work smarter, not harder, to achieve our goals with fewer losses… and much less drama when things don’t go our way!

How Does Lean Marketing Work?

Lean Marketing is a straightforward process:

1. First, we build and launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
2. Then, we measure the MVP results.
3. Lastly, we learn what works based on the metrics we gathered in the second phase.

Lean Marketing is a continuous process of growth. After the third phase, the cycle starts over again with more data and, consequently, more chances of success.

Lean Digital Marketing to Maximize Your Time

As I hinted before, the lean approach helps us complete projects faster. But it’d be shallow for us to assume the lean approach’s efficiency is limited to speed only.

Its focused nature allows for better control and will enable us to optimize our resources.

This alone is insanely valuable because marketing is unpredictable and subjective in many ways.

The lean approach to digital marketing lets us gather more precise data to improve our strategies.

The results of more controlled efforts help us minimize marketing’s inherent unpredictability.

Lean Digital Marketing’s Greatest Benefit for Business Owners

This toe-dipping approach can help tackle every aspect of your big projects separately. In other words, you’ll be able to evaluate and optimize every part of your business vision and strategies with more ease and clarity.

The information you and your marketing team gather from every one of your brand initiatives will help you have more context and clues about the following:

• What tactics you might try next.
• Which platforms are worth your investment.
• Whether you want to go big next time… or improve the ones that aren’t working.

Now, after so much chat, I’m dying to know… Are you a toe-dip or jump-in type of businessperson?