A Purpose.

Today's Marketing Cookie is prompting you to plant a decisive stake in the ground for whatever you create as a marketer, for both your company and your career. It's true. Marketers need a personal purpose that acts as a compass for their professional—and personal—choices. Simultaneously, they must imbue the products or services they market with a clear purpose, allowing prospects to grasp and trust its value. If a marketer’s personal purpose aligns with the purpose of the product, then success is more likely. Not every marketer or agency is suited to promote every product that comes along.

If there's a conflict between your personal purpose and the product’s, success will elude you, unless you're willing to disregard your moral compass—which I cannot do. For instance, marketing a political candidate whose beliefs are the polar opposite of your own can be challenging. Currently, with a contentious presidential election unfolding, it’s clear that effective marketing in this arena is not my calling.

No amount of money can substitute for personal purpose. Starving your guiding principles for profit will only lead to a realignment later on. Sometimes products and services clash with a marketer's morals. For example, I've chosen not to market companies that sell adult-related items or government-regulated products like guns, alcohol, and tobacco. People I care about have been harmed by these products, and honestly, my mother would disapprove—and she'd find out! Still, there are plenty of marketers who will represent these industries well.

Marketing for its own sake isn't a sustainable purpose either. As marketers, producing revenue is necessary to keep our jobs, but our work shouldn’t revolve solely around revenue. A larger purpose should drive you. Accepting a marketing position for a product you don't believe in means you've merely taken a job. If you loathe Mondays and yearn for the weekends, it's likely your purpose and job are at odds. Aligning your personal purpose with your company’s will lead to success and enduring happiness.