Tag: entrepreneurship

No matter what

FabrizioLeave a comment

Once you have interiorized the fact that most of what happens is beyond your control, there is still value in doing the work, in waking up to change the world, in putting effort into making things better.

Accepting is not the same as giving up. Accepting is understanding that despite our superior qualifications, our impeccable work, our relentless commitment, our strongest will, things might not turn out the way we want. And live with it as we live knowing that the day will follow the night, without letting this simple fact impacting our worth and merit.

This is actually the only way we can ensure we will pursue our purpose no matter what.

In check

FabrizioLeave a comment

Most of the decisions we take are evaluated based on their outcomes. And so we find ourselves telling a story around how we chose that option over the other one because of that last minute information we got, or because of the underlying trend we picked up, or because of that opportunity that suddenly presented itself.

Of course, that is only a story. It’s called rationalization. The truth is, there is very little of rational in what we decide to do at any given time. Even in complex decision-making processes (B2B purchasing, for example), what eventually moves the needle is often an emotion, an opinion, a story better told, the friction between two parties.

How to keep the decision-making process in check is a better problem to address (vs how we can replicate good decisions/avoid bad ones). And understanding how people make decisions (all people) is essential to the career of each marketer.

Subtracting

FabrizioLeave a comment

Challenge yourself (and your team) with a question that begins in the following way: what is the minimum amount …?

What is the minimum amount of information we need from a customer before we let them download the whitepaper?

What is the minimum amount of words we have to force our customers to listen to before connecting them to a human being?

What is the minimum amount of steps a visitor to our website has to take before finding what they came for?

What is the minimum amount of words we can use to describe our product?

What is the mimimum amount of people we need to tackle this problem?

Subtracting is often the best approach.

Maximum effect

FabrizioLeave a comment

Who is your main antagonist?

Is it the person cutting the line? Is it your partner who does not understand what you want? Is it your friend that never calls you? Is it that big company with unlimited resources to come after you? Is it the new start-up that does not play by the rules? Is it the government trying to regulate a previously unregulated field? Is it the customer who does not understand the change you are making in the world? Is it your boss who cannot see you for what you are really worth?

Or is it you?

Your bad day, your contrasting goals, your lack of capabilities, your unwillingness to compromise, your rigidity, your inability to express your needs, your stretching yourself too thin.

Put your focus where you can maximise the effect.

Suspicion

FabrizioLeave a comment

Since nowadays it is possible to measure everything, we have lost sight of what is important to measure. This is particularly true for marketers.

We get distracted by metrics that have nothing to do with success. We drown in acronyms and fads that we ourselves come up with, as if we would not be enough sure our profession is still relevant. We lose track of what matters (the answer is always the customer) and we spend time doctoring dashboards that prove the validity of our convictions.

It is not by chance people look at marketing with suspicion. It is our fault.