I remember when I was a young cub in the marketing world I read an article (today it would probably be a blog post) of career advice that said that if you want to get ahead professionally, just say Yes. When you’re starting out, grab every opportunity.
The same advice could apply, to a degree, to marketing today.
In the ‘60s marketers were focused on the Big Idea – the big branding campaign like the Jolly Green Giant, or don’t squeeze the charmin’, or the Marlboro Man. And they spent millions of dollars to communicate those campaigns to the public. Brand building ruled.
Today marketing is like direct marketing – more focused on lead generation and sales than brand building — and is about trying out 100 small ideas and finding the ones that work, growing them and shutting down the losers.
To do that means having a sense of experimentation and adventure. Don’t be stupid, but do try a few moonshots, too. You can’t just do me-too marketing; it’s only by venturing where no marketer has gone before that you get 10X improvements.
Just say Yes.
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