newly arrived students at engineering school are often surprised at the very first project they get
they're handed a container of elmer's glue and a big box of toothpicks or tongue depressors
or popsicle sticks and the assignment is build a bridge build a bridge that will hold some weight
and so they get to work building struts and flats and putting the whole thing together and
what they discover pretty quickly is that if you randomly build a bridge it's not going to hold up
very much weight but if you do it with intent if you do it with planning you'll win the contest
they know what it's for they understand the purpose of the bridge the purpose of the
bridge is to hold up weight so your marketing your marketing what's it for i would like to
argue that you can do it on purpose that you can begin this entire process by understanding the
answer to the question what is your marketing for and i think the answer is to make change happen
that's what we do marketers make change happen michael schrag has written a great short ebook
about this who do you want your customers to become what a great question because all marketing
that works makes a change happen sometimes it's sort of trivial we turn non-customers into
customers but often it's way more profound we help our customers become the person they seek to be
we help create an environment that our customers want to see happen that we are doing it on purpose
we turn people from this to that so one of michael's best examples is harley davidson
harley davidson turns disrespected outsiders into beloved insiders not everyone
a very specific group of people and they make a change happen that as you enter the market
you are doing the single most important function of most organizations the one that keeps the
organization from growing or allows it to grow the one that helps the organization make an impact
that activity is called marketing marketing is the act of going into the world with intention
to make a change happen and marketing works therefore you're responsible you don't get to
just say well that's what the market wanted it's not my fault no you're doing it you are bringing
it forward each of us is responsible for the effects and the side effects of what we do
so in this seminar we are seeking to be really clear about the change we seek to make so that
we know if it's working or not so that we can do it more and every one of these lessons
is going to have a homework assignment a homework assignment to be done in writing
to be done with each other to be posted that's how you're going to learn the most
by speaking up and saying your answer to the question so i'll go first what do i seek to do
in this seminar i seek to change passionate and caring humans who want to do marketing
into people who see marketing a different way into people who realize that they have the leverage and
the tools to make a change happen i seek to help you become somebody who can make the change in the
world that you want to be responsible for to make the change in the world that you will be proud of
thanks for coming along for the ride i can't wait to see the change you are trying to make
i'm back with a little ps it's easy to get stuck this early on with the trivial answer because for
a long time you've been brainwashed into thinking that what you're supposed to be is selfish just
get more of what you already want more and more and more more market share more shelf space more
customers i want to caution you about falling into that trap take a deep breath stop worrying about
how you're going to do it don't worry about the tactics don't worry about if it's possible let's
begin at the beginning at the beginning let's agree that the question is simple
what change are you seeking to make from what to what from what belief to what belief
from what state to what state from what status to what status that what we get to do is be
really clear about our compass we're not in the map business yet but where's your true north
where are you headed what are you going to spend all this time and money trying to do because what
we do as marketers is get under people's skin tell a story that spreads speak up stand up make stuff
that people want to engage with and we better be clear with ourselves about what change we
are trying to make so go ahead be bold don't worry about being wrong but it helps to be interesting