If you’re looking for ways to build leverage, you should think about persistent problems. What are the obstacles that you’ll encounter on the journey between the first step and the finish line?

Not all problems are worth investing in, but if we consider that persistent problems need to be solved repeatedly, we’re already off to a good start. That means that our solution accrues a little value each time we repeat the process.

This is a great way to optimize your workflow, but it’s also a great way to generate ideas for SaaS products and services. Most agencies are just collections of operating solutions for persistent problems. Content agencies become great at reliably producing content. Link building agencies become great at generating link opportunities and securing placements in a repeatable, dependable way.

Every marketing process that I deal with regularly has a collection of persistent problems — many of which I can and do pay to have solved. Anyone can do that, but the in-house solutions that I’ve developed help develop an edge against the competition.

You can’t get better at marketing by trying harder. You can get better by being faster, or smarter though, and you should try to do both.