Marketers are always searching for advice that they can apply to their marketing efforts and strategies. Luckily, plenty of people are more than willing to share their expertise, ideas, and “best” practices. Don’t simply emulate them and their words of wisdom. The biggest problem is sameness. Everything is the same, and no one stands out.
Rather than just taking their advice, make it your own, put your spin on it, and do what works best for your business. Today, my guest is Jay Acunzo, founder of Unthinkable Media and author of Break the Wheel. He describes how to push yourself to ask the right questions and make the right decisions when surrounded by conventional thinking.
Some of the highlights of the show include:
- Two Stories to Jay’s Career: LinkedIn’s about logos, and liking process of making things through tinkering and not caring if anybody consumes it
- Google was a great place to work; brand, perks, awesomely smart co-workers
- Following prescribed path because that’s what you’re “supposed to do”
- Expertise and checking a bunch of boxes doesn’t make a great career
- Everyone wants best practices and guidance because they’re afraid of what to do
- Unthinkable Stories: People did something that seemed crazy, but they clearly explain why what they did was practical and strategic
- Being taught there’s a right and wrong answer, and approaching marketing the same way; the real answer is, it depends...on context
- Push yourself beyond commodity work and do something exceptional instead
- Problems: We don’t want to be average, and we don’t operate in a generality
- Understand your specific situation and use it as a decision-making filter to find clarity; borrow from your situation and what’s proven to work elsewhere
- Six fundamental questions to ask to understand how to operate in a more contextualized way for your environment
- Pike Syndrome: Psychological barrier to making decisions with clarity; based on situation, instead of generality
- Context parts in every situation: You/team, customer/audience, and resources
- Reasons for Decisions: Learned helplessness, foraging choice, cultural fluency
- Aspirational Anchor: Personal- or team-based mission statement; articulates behaviors to change
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