There are two ways to get really good at marketing, and I try to do both:
Doing marketing (aka game-day to round out the analogy)
Training and studying “film”
There is no single correct way to do marketing, which means my goal is not to copy someone else’s game.
It’s to develop my own from learning, studying what everyone else is doing, and “building my bag” based on what I like and don’t.
So let’s get into it 🧑🏽🚀
Develop Taste.
“Ultimately it comes down to taste. It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done.”
- Steve Jobs
I study great work, new work, weird work, and everything in between. (including work that has nothing to do with marketing)
All just to get better at noticing why it’s good. Not “I like it.” Why?
What’s the intention?
How did people react?
What did they choose not to do?
Many people think taste is something they’re born with. To me, it isn’t.
Taste comes from understanding why someone did something, and how others reacted to it, which ultimately forms my own preferences and go-to’s.
Question Everything.
“The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The true dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.”
- Peter Drucker
My exercise is to question the assumption, the strategy, and my own conclusions until I understand why something should, or did, or didn’t work, rather than just believing it feels right.
Before I accept a strategy, a campaign, or my own conclusion, I ask as many questions as I need to until I feel like the decision or idea I’m working through is bulletproof.
The biggest mistakes I see usually have 10 obvious questions sitting upstream that nobody stopped to ask.
Steal Shamelessly.
“I mean Picasso had a saying, he said good artists copy, great artists steal. And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas…”
- Steve Jobs
This is something people flinch at, because it sounds like I’m admitting I have no ideas of my own.
The ability it builds is creative range, and the exercise is to save references relentlessly, revisit them, and then connect ideas.
I take top ads from one category and figure out how to flip the underlying idea for another: CPG to Beauty, Beauty to Apparel, etc.
Having my finger on the pulse of what trends are happening isn’t some illegal practice, it’s a necessity to not get lapped in the industry.
Be a Thoughtful Host.
“The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of their guests.”
- Charles Eames
This is one marketers suck at because we spend so much time talking to ourselves. The ability is customer understanding.
My exercise is to study what people actually say, how they describe their problems in their own words, what they want, and where they hesitate. Read psychology books. Watch movies. And, really simply: care about people.
It’s so crucial to take two seconds to remember that there are actual humans on the other side of the publish button.
Building My Bag
“Absorb what is useful. Reject what is useless. Add what is essentially your own.”
- Bruce Lee
I’m brutally serious about developing my own style in marketing.
I’ve seen so many things work for one brand or marketer that an industry leader said “you are a brainless no good marketer if you do things that way.” (being a little dramatic, but that’s not far-off from LinkedIn-speak on my TL)
So I read and watch (an unhealthy amount) of all the top marketers’ content, and take what makes sense, and dismiss what doesn’t.
The name of the game is applying everything above, in tandem with watching what others are doing, to build my own perspective and toolkit.
It’s not a coincidence that nearly every athlete from NBA/NFL/fill-in-the-blank-professional-sport has been asked, or just came out and stated, who they model their game after.