Don’t predict, prepare Nobody knows what happens next. No one’s predictions will be very accurate. We’ll look back and wonder how it wasn’t obvious, but nothing that seems obvious now is likely to be right.
You paid the fare—make sure you arrive The most important concept in strategy is commitment. Not a commitment to do the same thing forever. Not a stubborn resistance to change. But a commitment to truly give a direction your all.
Not lazy, but afraid Why do we put off marketing work we know we should be doing? The fact is, if we aren’t confident an action is going to create positive results, we won’t do it. We’ll procrastinate. We’ll avoid it. We’ll make excuses. It’s not because we’re lazy, it’s because we’re scared.
They’re stuck too 2020 is a year of anxieties for everyone, business owners included. And a particular strain of anxiety I’ve noticed is over competition.
We must start with gold Everything we do in our business either reinforces or damages our market position. Including, or even especially, how our product works and looks.
Every decision is a marketing decision My favorite cognitive bias is called “déformation professionelle.” Basically, we see the world through our jobs. It’s a bias I certainly have. I see everything through a marketing strategy lens. Often, that just makes me a boring conversation partner. But, sometimes, it actually helps.
End the anxiety of marketing When we meet with a new client, a very common sentiment is a sense of anxiety that pervades their marketing. Some say they hate it. Some say they like it, but it stresses them out. Others have just been trying to ignore it, or let someone else handle it.