Is Your Marketing a Pile of Parts or a Marketing Wheel?

The Power Comes From the Connections, Not the Parts

What do you call a wheel missing its rim? A pile of parts.

You’ve seen it: a website that fails to convert, social media that fails to engage, content that sits unread. 

Too many disconnected marketing efforts create noise, and noise doesn’t drive results.

“I know I need to be doing something online, but I’m not sure what or how.”

Sound familiar? It’s what I hear from business owners every week. But the issue isn’t usually a lack of effort (tactics). It’s usually too many tactics with no connections between them.

Marketing that breaks through the noise isn’t about having all the right parts. It’s about how those parts work together. 

Three critical components form your marketing wheel: the hub (your website), the spokes (your channels), and the rim (your messaging). When these three elements connect properly, with your ideal customer and with each other, your marketing transforms from a collection of random activities (noise) into a system that generates value.

Let’s explore each part of this wheel—and more importantly, how they connect to create marketing that moves your business forward.

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

The Hub is Your Website

Your website isn’t the finish line. It’s a step in your customer’s journey. Let’s look at how it can make the connections you need.

The Relationship-Building Center

Your website looks professional, but visitors aren’t staying, and leads aren’t happening. You’re left wondering if you’ve wasted your investment.

Beyond the Call-to-Action

A successful website isn’t just about pushing visitors to “buy now” or “contact us.” Conversion-focused design without trust is like a wheel without a rim—it goes nowhere.

“The most powerful message in marketing is ‘I get you.’” ~ Bernadette Jiwa

Effective websites support the buyer’s journey by:

1. Grabbing attention by immediately answering “What’s in it for me?”
2. Building trust through clear pathways to relevant content that solves real problems
3. Guiding visitors through a journey that respects who they are and where they are in the decision process

When I ask business owners what they think the primary objective of their website is, most settle on ‘conversion.’ This is almost always wrong. Yes, conversions matter, but they’re the result, not the purpose. 

“OK smart guy, what’s the primary goal?”

“Confirmation”

When prospects arrive at your site, most are looking for options. They need to know that you understand their problem and that your solution is viable and believable. Once you’ve confirmed that you understand what they are looking for, you can invite them down a conversion pathway.

“People don’t buy your product. They buy your approach to solving their problem.” ~ Seth Godin

Take one of our financial services clients. For years, their site focused exclusively on the “Schedule a Consultation” button. When visitors weren’t ready for that commitment (and most weren’t), they simply left.

So we rebuilt their hub. Now, the site offers value at every step—from educational content for those just starting to explore financial planning to detailed case studies for those ready to compare options.

The result wasn’t just more leads—it was better leads from people who already understood the value offered.

Website Connection Check

A modern website isn’t a digital brochure. It’s the hub of your online presence. Ask yourself:

• Does your site immediately communicate the value you offer?
• Are you providing something helpful before asking for commitment?
• Does your content meet visitors where they are in their decision journey?

When your hub is working correctly, it creates value for your customers and for your business. It begins conversations that lead to relationships. Think about it this way. The purchase shouldn’t be a sale. It should be the next logical step in your ideal customer’s journey.

The Spokes Connect You to Your Customers and Your Customers to You

Spokes are two-way channels. Use them to reach your customers and guide them back to your website.

Meeting Customers Where They Are

“We’re on Instagram because everyone says we should be. We’re publishing blog posts because our competitors do. We’re running ads on Facebook because they’re affordable. But nothing seems to be working.”

If that sounds like your approach, you’re not alone. Many businesses choose marketing channels based on convenience or popular advice rather than strategic fit.

“Pick your channels like you pick your battles—where you have the best chance of winning.” ~ Jay Baer

The Quality of Connections

The effectiveness of your marketing spokes depends on:

1. Connecting with customers where they naturally spend time (not where it’s easiest for you)
2. Focusing on the channels that reach the majority of your ideal customers
3. Ensuring each channel has a purpose and a clear path back to your hub

An efficient marketing plan isn’t about maintaining a presence everywhere—it’s about creating meaningful connections in the right places.

A B2B service provider we worked with was stretched thin across six different marketing channels. After profiling their best customers and mapping their journey, they discovered their ideal clients primarily sought information through industry publications, LinkedIn, and referrals.

By deepening their presence in these three channels and abandoning the others, they doubled their qualified leads while reducing their marketing time and budget by 60%.

Spoke Selection Framework

Don’t ask “Which channels should we be on?” Ask:

• Which three channels do your best customers use?
• At what stage in their journey do they use each channel?
• How can we use each channel to deliver value to customers and make it easy to visit our hub?

Your spokes aren’t just about reaching out—they’re about creating pathways that bring the right people back to your hub where deeper relationships can form.

Connection isn’t just a feeling. With tools like UTM tracking, you can measure which spokes move the wheel forward.

The Rim is Your Messaging Strategy

The hub and spoke is a known analogy. You’ve likely heard it mentioned. But what’s rarely talked about is the rim. Without the rim, you have a pile of parts. Let’s see why the rim is the secret sauce that ties everything together.

The Rim Turns a Pile of Parts into a Marketing Wheel

Your website says one thing. Your social media says something else. Your email marketing takes yet another direction. When your messaging, look and feel, personality, and more are inconsistent, you are contributing to the digital noise. With a consistent online presence, your marketing wheel doesn’t wobble; it rolls.

Strategic Messaging That Connects

Effective messaging requires:

1. A clear understanding of who your best customers are (and aren’t)
2. A focused value proposition that addresses their specific needs
3. Consistent language that supports their journey

Your messaging strategy isn’t just what you say—it’s how you say it across every channel and at every stage of the relationship.

“Consistency breeds familiarity. Familiarity breeds trust. Trust breeds conversion.” ~ Chris Brogan

A manufacturing client approached us with a common problem: different team members were responsible for various marketing channels, resulting in inconsistent messaging across these channels.

We used Marketing Sage Advantage to develop customer avatars and journey maps. With these foundation elements in place, we wrote a marketing strategy and plan that guided the entire organization.

Their messaging gained traction because it followed a consistent framework. The result was a 42% increase in qualified website traffic as their audience recognized and resonated with their consistent value proposition.

Your rim gives your marketing wheel strength. Without it, even the best website and the most strategic channels fall flat. The power comes from the connections, and the rim (messaging strategy) makes the connections.

This approach is suitable for any business.

Messaging Connection Audit

Let’s get practical. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Does your messaging speak directly to your ideal customer across all platforms?
• Is your core value proposition immediately clear regardless of where someone encounters your brand?
• Would someone experience a consistent story whether they receive your emails, visit your website, or engage with your social posts?

When your messaging is consistent, each marketing part reinforces the others, creating a compounding effect that builds recognition and trust.

When The Marketing Wheel Starts Rolling

The power doesn’t come from the parts; it comes from the connections.

Building Momentum Through Connection

When these three components align, something remarkable happens. Marketing stops being a series of isolated tasks and becomes a system that generates momentum.

By focusing on the connections between your hub, spokes, and rim, you align your marketing with the needs of your audience.

Strategy isn’t the actions you take—it’s how those actions connect to drive results. ~ James’ism

What Success Looks Like

When your marketing wheel is connected correctly, you’ll experience:

1. Consistent quality leads that already understand your value
2. Marketing that feels less like pushing and more like guiding
3. Clear metrics that show which connections are creating momentum

I’ve seen businesses transform when they shift from a collection of marketing tactics to the right ones connected together. One service firm went from struggling to maintain five different marketing channels to thriving with three well-connected ones. Their secret wasn’t working harder or spending more. It was leveraging the power of connection.

Are You Ready to Take the First Step?

The first step to better marketing isn’t adding more parts. Step one is identifying and connecting the right parts. So, the questions you need to ask are, “Do I have the right parts and are they connected?”

Let’s review your marketing strategy together. Book a virtual coffee/strategy session at VIPChatwithJames.com, and we’ll identify the key connections that can transform your marketing from a collection of parts into a cohesive wheel with momentum.