Marketing in Real Life

Life can be hard. Work, parenting, traffic… They all bring our stress and anxiety to elevated levels that I personally don’t want to be at. Here are 5 things I try to do every day to level them out. 1. Agree with someone. It’s easy to be contrary all the tome but acknowledging other people’s good ideas goes much further. 2. Challenge something. Pushing yourself and others to be better helps create the world you want to live in and provides a strong sense of accomplishment. 3. Completely space out. Falling into a song or a tv show or a smell that takes me away from my desk or car or house changes my entire outlook. 4. Be present. Putting the phone down and truly engaging in a conversation with a living, breathing person makes you remember how great human interaction is. 5. Laugh. Funny and enjoyable things are happening all the time. Making room in my day for them always makes me feel better about the hard stuff.

When my mother told me I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up I truly believed it and even today, I believe that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to.   Rules are just guidelines to be molded.    Other people’s opinions are to be learned from not deferred to.    And if I don’t like something - I believe it’s on me to change it.     So, I find it extremely frustrating when people that I am certain are capable of making change seem only willing to sit back, complain about it, and do nothing but share an article on the topic. Your job, your social status, and your relationships are in your control if you’re willing to put in the work.  

I have two thoughts on the frenzy over Abercrombie and Fitch’s CEOs comments… Both as a marketer, not as a parent or a psychologist. 1) Having a very clear picture of who your target market is for a company or a product is critical to success. As a business, trying to be everything to everyone is a recipe for failure. I admire that this dude is crystal clear on who they are selling to and why. 2) The public outcry is the exact reason that positioning documents are for internal use only. Targeting should be done through product design, media buys, and imagery/messaging… all of which is designed to influence the people you want to attract. Making a public declaration of those things leads to hurt feelings and being judged for your target market choices. 3) Bonus thought: I used to love the giant flannel shirts (I think they were called the big shirt) at A&F but by changing their designs, my own aging, and their ads it became very clear that this was not the store for me. And...