Pete had so many tricks up his sleeve it's a wonder he could even lift his arm to shoot. He dazzled crowds with fancy shots and head fakes. Left jaws hanging with impossible, behind-the-back and between-the-legs passes. Amazed fans with his sizzling dribbling acrobatics.

 

Now get this: In 10 years as a professional basketball player, he never won a championship. In fact, in five seasons with the New Orleans Jazz his team never had a winning record.

 

 

Contrast Pistol Pete to Coach Norman Dale's team in the movie "Hoosiers." Coach Dale, given a small squad of scrubs, is obsessive about the fundamentals of the game.

 

He's unimpressed with offensive flash and drills his team on defense instead. He knows their best chance is to play as a team. He institutes a rule that they must pass at least five times on every offensive possession before taking a shot.

 

His unorthodox, slow, and fundamental style clashes with the team members and townspeople, who want him to "just let the boys play."

 

But after submitting to his discipline and nailing the fundamentals, the team turns around. And when they're joined by star player Jimmy Chitwood, they start "firing on all pistons" and eventually win the championship as underdogs.

 

Yes, Jimmy gave them much-needed scoring power. But their core strength was in the fundamentals.

 

Business owners and marketers can learn a lot from their example.

 

 

It's fun and exciting to get caught up in "cutting-edge" marketing tools and tactics: Flash websites, mobile marketing, advanced social media strategies, "creative" ads and videos, etc.

 

Any of these can play a role in your marketing strategy, but they can never take the place of fundamentals. Your core fundamentals must be executed religiously before you spend money, time, and effort on anything else.

 

Too many businesses chase "flavor-of-the-week" marketing and advertising ideas, while neglecting their fundamentals.

 

While specific details may change depending on your business, industry, and model, here are the fundamentals of Hub Mentality, which should be at the core of all your marketing efforts:

 

 

Who's more likely to buy: the person who's never heard of you, or the person who gives you permission to market to them on an intimate and regular basis?

 

Your first priority is to take care of the people who have chosen to hear from you. It takes so much time, money, and energy to get people to pay attention to you in the first place that you can't afford to neglect your database.

• Do you have a database building strategy (free download, special deals, exclusive content, etc.)?
  
• Are you inviting every customer to join your mailing list with every purchase they make, and highlighting the benefits of doing so?
  
• Do you have webforms integrated into your website, with a clear and compelling offer?
  
• Are you only adding people who have requesting to be added and give you explicit permission to email them, or are you spamming?
  
• Do you email your database on a regular basis? Do you have the right frequency? Too much? Too little?
  
• Is your content relevant, valuable, educational, authentic, and compelling?
  
• Are you educating first, and selling second?

 

 

While it can be effective and appropriate, outbound advertising is very expensive.

 

With a few simple tools and strategies, you can make your marketing budget more efficient by making it easy for prospects to find you, rather than you hunting far and wide to find them.

• Is your website optimized to get found by search engines (page structure, headlines, site map, keyword-rich content, keyword-optimized urls, backlinks, etc.)?
  
• Do you have a blog, and are you adding relevant content consistently?
  
• Do you have an RSS feed?
  
• Are you publishing books, e-books, white papers, and online videos?
  
• Is your content valuable enough to spread organically and virally?
  
• Are you known in your industry as a thought leader and educator?
  
• Are you consistently building and cultivating authentic social media relationships?

• Do you have clear strategic and marketing plans, or are you just throwing stuff up against the wall to see what will stick?
  
• Are your tactics aligned with your strategic plan?
  
• Are your messages focused?
  
• Are you building a brand around core, simple concepts?
  
• Are your offline and online efforts connected and coordinated?
  
• Do your back-stage systems fulfill your front-stage promises?

Do you want to be a flash in the pan or a consistent champion? Are you a flashy hare that fizzles out, or a dependable tortoise that wins the race?

 

Hub Mentality is your Coach Dale. Can you hear him yelling from the sidelines? "Five passes! Five passes before you shoot! Stick with the fundamentals! Tough defense! Run the offense!"

 

Execute Hub Mentality consistently and it's inevitable: You'll be lifting trophies under flashing lights.