Last weekend we took a short break at the seaside. Early one morning, while everyone was still asleep, I laced up and went for a run.
I had one goal: reach the beach, feel the sea on my feet, then run back.
The way there was easy. I was full of energy. The beach pulled me forward. I touched the water, turned around… and something switched off. The run home was the same distance, the same road, but the energy was gone. My goal was already behind me. “Getting home” just wasn't as exciting as “reach the sea.”
I've felt that exact drop in marketing.
Everyone is running toward the goal. And there are two ways it goes wrong.
Either the goal is too small: you hit it by end of day, and then, what's the goal for tomorrow? What gets you out of bed and into the office actually glad to be working on something?
Or the goal is too big: so far ahead you can't even see it. In running terms, that's like setting out to run three marathons in a single day. I'm never going to reach that, so it doesn't pull me forward at all. A goal that big doesn't motivate. It freezes you.
The fix is the same in both cases: make the big goal small. A chain of goals close enough that you can reach one, then the next, then the next.
On my run home I did exactly that. First goal: the lifeguard post. Reached it. Next: the pier. Next: the dune path. Last: the short stretch back to the house. Suddenly I was running with energy again, because I was always almost at a goal.
Do the same with your marketing plan. Instead of “launch the new landing page” sitting on your list for three weeks, break it into a chain:
Day 1 — content for the landing page ready.
Day 2 — page built.
Day 3 — show it to 50 customers, ask for their feedback.
Day 4 — improve it based on what they said.
Day 5 — live to the next thousand.
Goal, goal, goal, goal, goal. Each one reachable. Each one handing you the energy for the next.
That's how you keep running, even after the goal is reached.
So here's my question for you: is your marketing goal too small, too big, or broken into a chain you can actually run?
One more thing. The first round of my cohort The Marketing Harvest 🍒 is almost ready. It's built around exactly this: turning a strategy that won't move into a chain of goals you actually reach, with proof at every step.
I'm opening it to this list first. Want the details before anyone else?
Reply “RUN” and I'll send you the full doc.
Every small win is a harvest,
Stefan “running” Verhoeve
That’s me!
