A famous social media personality many years back exclaimed ‘Hustle’. He made it a rallying cry that if you want to succeed in life, the only way to do it, is work tirelessly.
And then what we saw was, almost every digital marketer (including me) saying – Hustle to succeed. Posts on social media, even today talk about the hustle culture.
I remember in one of the organization I worked with, we welcomed a bunch of fresh grads. As I took the stage to address them, the only slide on the huge screen behind me said – HUSTLE.
But over the years, I looked at my own function of work and started questioning the belief – Do Marketers Need To Hustle?
The Hustle Myth
Even today, I agree to that personality’s message on the need to hustle.
As you start your career, it is important to grab as many opportunities as you can. The more you take, the more you learn which can most likely help you in building a good career.
Many of us have grown in similar way, so nothing to take away from that message.
But then, is that the only way!!?? Maybe no, there will always be few who got lucky and could make good in their life even without ‘hustling’.
What Has Marketing To Do With It?
Marketing is most often viewed as a – right brain activity. The one that needs a person to be lot more creative than just being analytical.
Marketers are looked upon as people who are more imaginative, bringing forth ideas that can package any brand’s messaging in an easy to understand format which is difficult for a logical, linear thinking person.
And that’s where I feel the large gap lies, marketers with their creative, non-linear thinking need time for building upon an idea. But when brands want quick deliveries – more social post, more performance campaign, more..more…more…the marketer is left without a choice.
What happens next – an exhausted marketer delivering mediocre work. And we are seeing that around us. Irrespective of the type of brand, the stage of their target audience, most marketers follow a cookie-cutter approach as they try to deliver MORE.
Marketers Don’t Hustle
At the core of this message lies – plan better.
In today’s age, a marketer cannot just survive being a right-brained person. They need to learn some analytical skills.
The best marketers, I have worked with, stood out not just by working hard aka hustling, but they focused on working smartly. They planned large brand transformation campaigns and delivered them successfully.
What did they do differently?
- Breaking the Work
- Most of them broke the problem statement/campaigns into multiple tangible pieces of work. That way, at any point, they were able to track progress and do course correction, if needed
- Used Technology
- The best marketers I worked with, didn’t shy away from adopting technology. They used it as a means to an end by leveraging to not replace humans but in a way they can make them more productive. The latest AI tools are kind of extension to that
- Investing in People
- ‘Fail Fast’, all of us have heard that to the point of death but what needs to be said is – Fail fast but recover faster. That’s where investing in the right team makes a difference, because you are only as fast as the slowest member in your team
- Quality > Quantity
- I have a strong opinion on this, a good marketer never delivers sub-standard work. Marketers should never sacrifice quality at the altar of quantity. If quantity is the need of the hour, go back, find a tech that can help but never at the cost of quality
Well this is not another rant post & like I mentioned, hustle is good but it still needs some brains to it.
Don’t rush the marketer to deliver but instead give them freedom to ideate well and then deliver. There is indeed some power in slow marketing (that should be my next post)