I DON'T WANT THE BRANZINO!

Photo Credit: Ellie Baygulov

At this point in my career, I am confident that I have witnessed a healthy sampling of marketing and brand decision making patterns.

As a result of my adventures in both startup and corporate America, I have a few battle scars, several (mostly healed) bruises to my ego, a handful of wins, and a decade’s worth of lessons learned.

If you read nothing else today, read this: marketing in a vacuum is ineffective.

Think of marketing - strategy, execution, testing, and nurturing - like the nervous system of your operation.

It's the communication structure that enables most of what you do (walk, speak, swallow, breathe, learn, and react in an emergency).

To create a functional marketing nervous system, you must cultivate a culture that is willing to …

DEFINE a vision that is tolerant of testing, risk-taking, and improvement.

EMBRACE obstacles as pathways.

PRIORITIZE progress over perfection.

INVEST in your brand [perception is reality when it comes to your customers].

Most importantly, you must be willing to LISTEN and LEARN.

If you do not select the right metrics to measure outcomes, you risk not HEARING what your most important audience is asking for.

This is like a waiter yelling the daily special at you after declining once because he has committed to selling 10 UNITS OF BRANZINO DAMMIT!

Not only does he miss out on the sale, but he nukes all possibility of playing the long-game (please don't be the company that hops over dollars to grab pennies).

I'll let you draw your own parallels with this example to customer lifetime value, brand reputation, and advocacy.

LASTLY, there is no “look no further” miracle solution that will solve all of your growth needs. If it sounds too go to be true, well, you know …

… it probably is.

Do not put the success or failure on the shoulders of one role, one project, one video, one website, one tool, or one leader.

Marketing is equal parts strategy, skill, will, and GUSTO – think of your talent, tactics, and technique in these buckets. 

Remember, you can't walk, speak, swallow, or react if you can't breathe.

Marketing is your nervous system.

Take care of it.