When I think of the word Marketing it often reminds me of the sea. The three most important letters of the word are unassumingly tacked onto the end: ING. When many people speak (and I would assume, think) about marketing, they speak like it happens at a moment in time. It is viewed as something to be stopped and started when convenient.
When I hear really amazing marketers speak about it they speak about the same exact tactics as everyone else, but in an ever-so-slightly different way. Great marketers speak about marketing the way a sailor would speak about sailing.
When you are out on the open ocean, you don’t just actively sail when you feel like it, or have the time or resources to sail. You are always sailing, because the ocean is such a volatile and ever-changing place that anything less than your unbroken attention and diligence can be fatal.
And that really is the same with marketing. Today’s environment, in nearly every industry, changes just as rapidly, and can strike with the same force as the open ocean. It would be naive of us to think that we will chart our course and arrive safely at our destination without keeping a watchful eye at every step of the journey.
So don’t learn how to market your brand. Engage in continually marketing it.
