Marketing campaigns don’t add up to a strategy. Sometimes it may look that way, but that’s just a bit of luck at work. It’s far more effective to go the other way — start with a strategy and use that to drive your campaigns.

IT solution provider marketers tend to focus on the campaign, a perspective resulting largely from demand generation considerations. The best way to bring in leads, however, is to use a coordinated approach that maximizes the value and potency of your marketing efforts. One-off campaigns just don’t have the same effect.

Think about investing in marketing the way you would about an investment in the stock market. If you invest for the long term, based on the amount of cash you have and risk you can handle, odds are the future will be much brighter than if you day trade, chasing returns and hoping you time the market properly. The latter approach is generally shunned by serious investors — and it should be treated the same way when applied to your marketing dollars and lead generation efforts.

Smart, disciplined marketing investments guided by clear objectives and a well-planned strategy — that’s where you’ll find the return on your marketing investment. Skip the one-hit wonder aspirations, and use a comprehensive marketing strategy to drive real, sustainable growth. The lead generation implications will be profound.