A Newsletter on Marketing (and Life) #006

Read this email to transition to customer-centric marketing

Author

Jordan Ogren
July 28, 2023

A Newsletter on Marketing (and Life) #006

Top of the morning to you!

I hope your week has been cruising. Mine has been due to being busy. Which is why I am writing this at 9:18pm on Thursday (4 minutes later than last week).

When you have a deadline, things get done. Kind of like magic. Or a terrible master.

I hope you’ve been enjoying these emails so far. I have much planned for the future and plan to “open source” with you.

Anyways let’s dive into this week’s takeaways:

Podcast Takeaways

(Time to read: 2:36 minutes)

Wish you could shift from traditional marketing to a customer-centric approach?

Marcella Chamorro explains how to do it. It's a journey from focusing on product promotion to understanding and meeting customer needs.

No one cares about what you're selling. They only care about themselves. The shift focuses on building meaningful, long-term customer (audience) relationships. Care first.

This transformation requires patience, empathy, and a fresh perspective.

If you want to make this shift, Marcella's insights are invaluable (listen to the conversation here):

Takeaway #1: Focus on empathy and putting yourself in your customers' shoes.

It's absurd to me how many marketing ideas we throw around that we would never engage with ourselves. And in certain contexts, that makes sense (e.g., a man marketing to mothers).

But for a majority of marketing, empathy is critical.

"You need to understand the psychology, the thinking, the needs, and the fears of your ideal customer."

The best competitive advantage in 2023 is knowing your customers better than anyone else. Almost better than they know themselves...

Now what?

  • Pick one segment of your audience and host an empathy interview with one customer from that segment

  • Create a plan to conversate with 1-2 customers weekly

  • Develop a customer advisory board that you meet monthly with to get nonobvious insights

Takeaway #2: The importance of prioritization and focus.

I've met a few marketers that act as if they chugged a red bull or snorted some Adderall. Ideas come fast, they babble, and they rarely have time to slow down and think. (wait, is that me? Excluding the Adderall)

And they typically create the worst marketing.

The best marketing comes from a place of clarity. And clarity comes from prioritizing and focusing on what matters.

One way that Marcella did this with her team was to have a recurring question In Basecamp: "What should we stop doing?"

Too often, we misbelieve that addition will help us reach our goals. It's almost always subtraction that allows us to make more progress.

What now?

  • Think of one way you can move slower to get more done (go for a walk?)

  • Develop OKRs that provide insight into how you're doing and where your focus should be

  • Create a routine question like the one Marcella proposes to stay focused on what's important

Takeaway #3: Have a Beginner's Mind

This concept may be foreign to you if you've never dabbled in mindfulness. That's okay. A Beginner's Mind is curious, open, and non-judgmental.

The concept of "Beginner's Mind" or "Shoshin" comes from Zen Buddhism, and it refers to having an open mind, free from preconceived notions and judgments, much like a beginner or a novice would have.

It's about seeing things with fresh eyes and being open to different possibilities, regardless of one's experience level or expertise.

This forces us to activate our brain (thinking). Rather than autonomously doing what we've always done, you approach every challenge or campaign with fresh eyes.

Ready to adapt and iterate based on what's working right now. This can lead to marketing you would have never produced in your rigid mind state.

"With a Beginner's Mind...in terms of marketing, there are sometimes unexpected surprises."

What now?

  • Understand the concept of the beginner's Mind (use ChatGPT)

  • Implement one technique next week that will help you stay in the beginner's mindset

  • Ask those around you where you're most rigid and attempt to become more flexible (open)

Takeaway #4: Go "long" on content v. "short" on ads

I agree with Marcella on this. She explains in a clear way how if you only have so much budget, spend more of it on organic (i.e., content).

"If I have the space to, in terms of funding or runway, then I'd rather go long on content and educate."

Invest in high-quality content that helps your customers and prospects make progress on what matters to them/their business. Why?

It will pay you back over time as content lives on forever. Unlike ads, which require input (money) to continue running. Which can be (sometimes) unsustainable during down economic times.

Better to invest in content assets that can help the right people for years.

What now?

  • Understand where you stand % on paid vs. organic (shift to what makes sense)

  • Use paid ads to aid your organic content efforts vs. transactional only

  • Plan one content asset you can create in the future that helps your customers make progress (routinely)

Three quotes. Three books.

"The novice writer asks the wrong questions – questions such as ‘Am I brilliant? Am I impressive? Am I memorable?’ Instead of, ‘Am I honest? Am I being authentic? Am I being of service?’”

– Julia Cameron (Author of The Artist’s Way)

"Rather than being overconfident, if the goal is to reduce errors, it is better for leaders (and others) to remain open to counterarguments and to know that they might be wrong.”

– Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein

"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish yourself to be.”

– Thomas Ā Kempis from Andrew Murray’s Humility 

Links to the three books quoted above:

Personal Note from Jo

(Time to read: 3:16 minutes)

“No amount of good is worth how terrible this feels."

What is your ultimate goal? What are you working towards in life?

Is it success, love, comfort, respect? What matters most to you?

This idea came to me when thinking about a recent Hulu series, The Bear (I share a story from this show later on).

This prompted me to redefine this; I find myself drifting toward impact—Impacting others and helping them make progress. If my life can help others, then it was a life well-lived.

And the more people I can impact, the better.
And the better I am at what I do (craft), the more I can help.

Craft is a funny word. Some call it their passion. I hate the word passion.

I prefer to call it my practice. The daily refining of my craft is my practice. With the ultimate goal of having that craft impact and help others.

Not everyone is like me. On two fronts:

  1. They don't have the drive (to improve) within that can't be silenced

  2. They want to be the best to benefit themselves and not others

If you're #2, jump off a bridge. Just kidding. But for real, what's the point of being the best if there is no positive societal impact? That's a different essay for another day.

If you're #1, I'm jealous. I wish I didn't have this unsatisfied dog in me. I wish I could watch the Packers every Sunday and the newest Netflix series (I only watch Hulu 😉).

For those who have this drive, I want to pose one of the most problematic dichotomies I've come across:

Falling in love with your craft vs. Falling in love with another human.

Those are (almost) incompatible if you want to be the best at what you do.

Why is that?

Love takes time, attention, and focus (finite resources).
The same things are needed to master your craft.

You have to decide, especially early on: how badly do I want to be the best?

Do I want it bad enough to have no distractions?
So bad that I'll dedicate all my time, attention, and focus to it?

Because if you have this drive, all the love, pleasure, and comfort won't fill the hole you have without mastering your craft.

While you could say this is a false dichotomy, it's real for many. And I thought it was only me until I watched the season finale of The Bear on Hulu.

The show is about an award-winning chef, Carmy, who returns to his hometown, Chicago, to manage his deceased brother's (chaotic) sandwich shop.

In season two, they transform the sandwich shop into a high-end restaurant, with the final episode being their opening night for family and friends.

It ends with Carmy locked in the walk-in refrigerator as the door broke off (which he was supposed to fix). But in the middle of the season, Carmy fell in love. This leads to Camry letting his deepest thoughts out:

"I'm stuck in the goddamn refrigerator on the opening night of my fucking restaurant because I didn't have reception when Tony (fridge guy) called, and there are shelves on the wrong side, and there's art that's fucking shit.

I failed you guys.

What the fuck was I thinking? Like I was gonna be in a relationship.

I'm a fucking psycho. That's why I'm good at what I do. That's how I operate.

I am the best because I didn't have any of this fucking bullshit, right? I could focus, and I could concentrate, and I had a routine, and I had fucking cell reception.

.......

I don't need to provide amusement or enjoyment.

I don't need to receive any amusement.

I'm completely fine without it.

No amount of good is worth how terrible this feels."

I felt that in my bones.

When I first met my wife, I had similar thoughts.

I was starting and needed to dedicate myself to my craft.
But love in its early stages demands extra time and attention.

It's still an issue that I wrestle with. As I am consumed by love and enjoyment, I know that my work (craft) is slipping behind.

Yes, my wife helps me be my best. The time I invest in her pays me back significant dividends. Love and friendship can rejuvenate and support us during difficult times. I see and feel that.

But imagine if we had no distractions, where would we be?

How good could we be?
How many people could we help with our craft?

Because for some of us, the high is not worth the low of failing at the craft. I'd rather put the work in and master the craft than find pleasure and regular enjoyment. I'm a psycho.

I have no answers in this essay.

I'm sharing this so if anyone else has that drive, they feel seen and heard.

Keep going.
Every second counts.
Let's make them count together.

– Jo

P.S. Here is what I’m working on: