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So last night was the end of the Men’s College Basketball Tournament with North Carolina putting a beat down on Michigan State for the championship.  Although my team lost,  the game and the tournament served as a great reminder of how the most tested and consistent winning efforts rise to the top 99.9% of the time.

If you’re not a basketball fan you’ll have to forgive me on this one because March Madness (the basketball tournament) is my favorite event of the year. Each year 65 teams from across the country compete in one huge tournament to determine the national champion. In the first couple of rounds there are exciting upsets where smaller, less talented teams create a unique (and sometimes gimmicky) game plan that catches the better team off guard so much that the lesser team wins the game.

This creates some great excitement, but as the tournament wears on, the better, more talented, and more tried and true teams rise to the top to become the national champion. Not once in the long history of the basketball tournament has an unheard of, little school won the entire tournament.

So how does this relate to marketing?

Much like the basketball tournament there are all sorts of companies and marketing efforts trying to win the attention (and sales) of their audience. At the beginning it is a free-for-all. Infomercials, web banners, tv commercials, in-person networking, conferences, social media marketing, direct mail marketing, etc. Everybody has a fair chance at winning.

Some of these marketing efforts are tried and true, consistently delivering results and some are new, unheard of, and unique (and sometimes gimmicky). Because of technology and the creativity involved, sometimes a new, cheaper, more creative marketing plan can catch an older, more established effort off-guard and produce better results.

However, as consumers become familiar with them, they begin looking for what they know is tried and trusted. Need an example? Remember tele-marketers and pop-up ads? When they first burst on to the scene they had success, but after consumers wised up, they quickly became a gimmicky annoyance and are no longer a serious threat to other, more authentic marketing efforts.

Much like the two basketball teams that played last night, who are very disciplined and concentrate their efforts on fundamentals that have proven themselves reliable and successful over time, you need to do the same with your marketing efforts.

While it’s important to utilize new technology and new strategies, remember to keep the tried and true characteristics of building relationships with your customers at the center of all your marketing efforts. While there may be the occasional upset when a new technology or plan comes along, over time the referral from a satisfied customer or a trusted friend will always prove more consistent and valuable.

So as you see the national champion North Carolina Tarheels in the newspapers and on TV over the next few days, remember that real victory is achieved by a consistent, well executed, long-term plan for success.