> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://kelfordinc.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The way to start your 2026 marketing — Kelford Labs Daily - URL: https://kelfordinc.com/the-way-to-start-your-2026-marketing-kelford-labs-daily/ - Published: 2026-01-27T11:20:16.000Z - Updated: 2026-01-27T12:34:55.000Z - Description: By focusing on who’s looking for you. - Author: Joel Kelly - Tags: advertising, attention, clarity, customers, demo, distance, focus, position, process, specific, Daily Labs *It’s been a while since our last newsletter, as we’ve been working on a new design for our website. Which, I’m pleased to say, is complete. We have a few things to clean up over the coming days and weeks, but I invite you to check out* [*the new KelfordInc.com*](https://kelfordinc.com/)*.* *We used to have two websites: One for this newsletter and one for our marketing consulting. Now, it’s all one thing.* *Because all we do at Kelford Inc.,* [*every single day*](https://kelfordinc.com/kelford-labs-daily-all-day-every-day/)*, is show our clients the way to knowing what to say. So we wanted to show you, our past, current, and perhaps one-day clients, exactly how we do that by showing you how we do it for ourselves.* *Take a look at our new website, and explore our more than 800 newsletters/blogs on topics from marketing* [*failure*](https://kelfordinc.com/tag/failure/)*, to* [*content*](https://kelfordinc.com/tag/content/)*, to* [*AI*](https://kelfordinc.com/tag/ai/)*, to marketing* [*anxiety*](https://kelfordinc.com/tag/anxiety/)*, to* [*questions*](https://kelfordinc.com/tag/questions/) *to ask yourself.* *We hope you like it and enjoy what you read.* ***Reply to this email or send us a note at labs@kelfordinc.com to tell us what you think!*** --- We’re well into January now, and what a year it’s been, eh? **I’m sure you’re feeling lots of ways about, well, lots of things, and marketing might not be one of them. Believe me, I understand.** But if having a better sense of your marketing in 2026 would help you feel a bit better or clearer in general, I hope I can help a little today. So, how are you feeling about your marketing in 2026? **Do you know *what* to say, *where* to say it, and to *whom*?** I mean, that’s the challenge, isn’t it? Every year it’s a new plan, a new campaign, a new set of ideas, but the problem remains the same: What do we *say*? Today, I want to share just one short idea, a quick question, to help you figure out what you need to say to move your ideal prospects one step closer. Let me ask you this: ***If your website disappeared. If your marketing budget went to zero. If everything you currently do to get customers went away and you couldn’t do it anymore...*** ***Who would still find you?*** Chances are, you can think of *someone*. A type of customer or a real person you actually know. The person who needs *exactly* what you offer, and would go *looking* for it, even if you weren’t looking for them. What I want you to do is think about whether the marketing you *are* doing is targeting and reaching them, today. Is it focused on what [*they* value most](https://kelfordinc.com/your-process-is-your-position-kelford-labs-weekly/), and is it placed in places *they* actually go? What I see all the time is what I call “aspirational marketing,” or marketing targeting people who don’t care, aren’t aware, or who are oceans of time or space away from the business. But wouldn’t it be *so nice* if we sold to them? **But... that’s not how it works. We don’t find customers somewhere *out there* in the abyss of the market.** We find them [nearby](https://kelfordinc.com/closer-marketing-clearer-marketing-kelford-labs-daily/). Next to us. *Looking for us* or at least the thing we provide. Our job is to tell them we do it and then to *show them* that we do it the way they value most. Don’t let your marketing in 2026 become a series of aspirational attempts at influence, when what’s really needed is [direct, clear, and specific](https://kelfordinc.com/kelford-labs-weekly-specific-clear-and-focused-value/) marketing to the people most likely to *notice* it. Because they’re *looking* for it. **Are *you* looking for *them*?** --- *Reply to this email to tell me what you think, or ask any questions!* --- [***Kelford Inc.***](https://www.kelfordinc.com/) ***shows you the way to always knowing what to say.***