So, in preparation for writing this post, I googled “3 keys to marketing success.” Google returned 81,900,000 results. Surely there’s a simple, practical way of breaking down a marketing plan into three main categories – with universal application, and without 82 Million variations. So here’s my take:

1. Be Visible: Make sure your products and services are visible in all the places consumers expect to find you. This involves having a Web presence instead of just a website. It involves actively listening for and joining in conversations affecting your industry, and producing informative and entertaining content that answers questions and demonstrates expertise. It requires enhanced directory listings, a growing list of external citations, and active social nodes that exude brand personality.

2. Be Smart: Send invitations to the right people, with the right message, at the right time. Thoroughly identify your market segments and align your messaging with each. Test and prove communication mediums that reach your target with little or no waste. Engage calls to action that get attention and solicit measurable response, then systematically invite target segments into prepared brand experiences. Have a plan for migrating leads toward consumption and turning customers into repeat customers and brand evangelists.

3. Be irresistible: make sure, while carrying out steps 1 and 2, that your communication is consistently likable, believable, and memorable. Identify your brand parameters and stay violently loyal to them. Remember that the Information Age has forced consumers to quickly form a consideration set using brand perception and gut feel. Make sure that every marketing asset you create is designed to win the gut feel decision battle. Give the brand a voice of its own, and give that voice a first-person presence on new media nodes such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

There you have it, number 81,900,001, and likely the best approach yet. Take that Google.