Do you ever get the feeling that marketing has been packaged up and optimised and given acronyms and made to seem like a THING that is separate from us that we can tie onto our work and lives like a ROCKET PACK that will shoot us into the capitalist stratosphere?
Do you?
I do.
But it’s a con. Marketing is just people.
Marketing is just this person *here* telling this person *here* about a thing.
Marketing is just a human standing in front of a human saying “hey, dya want some of this?”
You can strap it up with data and analytics and you can measure the sh*t out of it. You can get it to win awards for ingenuity. You can put it in glossy presentations or LinkedIn carousels that scream “look at our clever campaign, clap now please!”. I’m sure on some level it helps.
But don’t get swept away by the razzle dazzle. A lot of the time it’s just a distraction. The numbers and prizes and applause are charming but ultimately false flags that lead us further and further away from the what and the why.
Our purpose stops being *our purpose* and starts being about making something that looks flashy and impressive. Something that’s more about keeping up what everyone else is doing and less about, you know, doing what you’re good at. Serving YOUR audience.
Remember them?
So don’t get swept up in the marketing parade. Don’t worry that you’re not keeping up (nobody is) or that you don’t understand what this buzzword means or that there’s JUST NO TIME FOR ALL THIS. Marketing is an industry that’s very good at, well, marketing itself.
Spend some time looking inside for the answers instead.
Read your own testimonials and feedback. Talk to your customers, understand their experiences and get a handle on their journey and needs. Take time to reflect instead of just powering through month after month. Notice how you’re evolving as a brand, as a business.
Use it all as fuel for your communications. Then take care and pride in what you put out.
You’ve already got the rocket pack. It’s all in there. You’ve got everything you need.