A Newsletter on Marketing (and Life) #017

Before adopting a new tool, do this...

Author

Jordan Ogren
October 13, 2023

I'm convinced we all share a common need:

To be seen.

Or maybe it's just me. While I would externally say I don't care, I struggle when I'm overlooked or ignored by people. I feel invisible. The way I've felt in my darkest moments in life.

The way I felt when I was ready to leave as a sophomore in high school.

So I've (God?) made it my life's goal to help others feel seen. I can't change the world, but can listen, care, and help another person. I believe helping someone feel seen is what Jesus meant when he said love your neighbor.

Imagine a world with more people feeling seen and heard.

How can you help someone you care about feel seen today?

Enjoy this week's letter:

đź’ˇMarketing Insight: Process before Tools

(Time to read: 1:13 minutes)

Tools matter in marketing.

For a clear example, try shooting a video with a camera from 2002. It will look like shit compared to a Sony a7000 (I just made that up). Now, they also don't matter.

If you have a Sonny a7000 and don't understand composition, angles, or storytelling, your output will also suck.

My point is that if you give someone who can think and execute well the best tools, they become superhuman.

That's what I want for you and me.

With AI and new tools popping up every day, you and I have many opportunities to actualize our potential. This also has its dangers. Unvalidated tools steal our attention, and we lose time on tools we use solely to use them, ultimately hindering our progress toward achieving our goals.

Not only that, but we slowly degrade our performance as we give the tools more power to change us (I.e., our thinking). I heard this quote once, and I can never forget it:

"We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us." – Marshall McLuhan.

By using tools recklessly (without thinking), we can be worse off than before we had the tool.

That's why I want to share a mental model that has helped me avoid this and use tools in a way that helps me make progress.

That mental model is Process Before Tools (PBT).

What is Process Before Tools?

The first rule in PBT Club is that you ALWAYS look through the lens of the process before adopting any tool—a simple rule, to be honest. Whenever I come across a new tool, I refer back to my process and determine if any step can increase effectiveness or efficiency by using it.

I never adopt a tool before realizing where it fits into my process.

To be continued... Click here to save the link

đź“ą Marketing Clip of the Week

Me: What job should marketing get done for your business?

Nick Gedda: Shorten the sales cycle.

Three Books – Three Quotes

"There is only one route to authority: demonstrating your expertise in public in some way.”

– Alastair McDermott (33 Ways Not To Screw Up Your Business Podcast)

"The truth is that my desires are derivative, mediated by others, and that I’m part of an ecology of desire that is bigger than I can fully understand.”

A few fav snippets as we đź‘‹ the Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life book goodbye:

  • “There is nothing that can make an angry person happy.”

  • “In all situations one should proceed after realizing what needs to be done.”

  • “If the elephant of the mind is completely restrained by the rope of mindfulness, then all perils vanish and complete well being is obtained”

Heard – Saw – Experienced

Heard

"That stuff is cringe."

The "stuff" this man was referring to: The unique challenges women face in the workplace 🦸‍♀️ I mentioned I've helped do marketing for a Women's Leadership Institute, and he balked at it. He then ranted about a time in college when they made him state his privilege of being a white man.

I'm not advocating for anything here. I am simply pointing out a sad fact:

Many people are ignorant, blind, and content with not seeing other's pain (See intro).

This man, WHO HAS DAUGHTERS, should have cared to understand the unique challenges women have in the workplace. Rather than wrestle with uncomfortable truths, he settled for a neat illusion: Those problems are cringe and do not deserve our time of day.

I'm not here to argue who has it harder (men, women, or nonbinary). I'm here to shine a light on two skills we all need more of:

Kindred awareness + Purposeful practice.

Rather than cringe at problems you haven't cared to understand, I challenge you to nurture a deep-seated understanding and take deliberate, impactful actions to move towards a society where each individual is seen and heard.

That's the society that I want to live in. What about you?

Saw

Water. That's where I met my wife, did much thinking, and felt at peace.

I escaped with Kate to Bay Shore Park, which borders the (Green) Bay. It was a lovely Saturday adventure. Sometimes, you need to do things you don't usually do. That’s a lesson I’m slowly learning.

Experienced

I hate that you rarely go on dates after years of being in love with someone. Or maybe that's a me problem... But I hear that people who are married for long periods become comfortable and stop doing dates.

Last Friday, Kate and I ate at 1919 (inside Lambeau – weird flex). It was surprisingly remarkable. I even had a beer (if you know me, you're confused).

Here's to being more intentional about going on dates and not allowing work to consume me 🍻

Nothing new here…

Works in progress:

Thank you for making it to the end. I appreciate you being here on this journey.

If there is any way I can help you make progress, please reach out.

– Jo (every second counts)