Get Some Real Work Done

Today's Marketing Cookie is urging you to push, pull, run, jump, and take action, even when you're stuck. Although I have never worked in a giant company with multiple approval layers, indecision, creative sabotage, or "what if" sayers, "nay" sayers, or "yeah but" sayers, I have had clients who do live in that world. I've seen their faces twist during a meeting when they look down at the latest "internal office email" that just buzzed in on their Blackberry during our meeting. I've heard them sigh on the phone as they call to inform me that they've been instructed to cancel the new killer marketing initiative that just couldn't get approval from the top brass.

It isn't easy.

While the bigger companies often have much bigger budgets, they sometimes have more opinions to include, more fears to quell, and will want to have more meetings. I've seen incredible "out of the box" creative ideas be transformed back into "yawnville," and safely repackaged into the same-old box, with those little styrofoam peanuts. I've listened to companies beg us to "Please push us!" and "Don't let us get in the way of your creativity!" only to be foiled by the "constipation committee." I've watched the energy rush out of the conference room in the eleventh hour, as the teeth are pulled from a wonderfully risky and a stand-up disruptive campaign, which is politely asked to sit down.

It isn't easy.

I want you to know that there is hope. Even in the most stuck situations, I've seen marketers stand by what they believe in, and create enough wiggle room, just between the rock and the hard place, to prove their idea. After proving the brilliance of the idea, we had numbers to show the impact, and were not just allowed to proceed, we were encouraged to roll forward. True story.

You will always be tempted to do things "right," which is traditional market research, followed by a six-month top-to-bottom branding and positioning exercise, and then a full-blown twelve-month marketing strategy. Sometimes that is exactly what's needed. However, the top dogs may not have the patience for such things and will start snarling, barking, and become restless. I've found that the secret to success in a big lumbering corporate world is to plant little seeds that can germinate quickly.

You are amazingly smart and clever. Use your gut to try a few "pilots." Rather than trying to build consensus on ideas, concepts, or theories, create a little test, and then you can build consensus on concrete numbers, analytics, and revenue. If they agree that your little "test" is worth trying on a larger scale, they may help you cut through organizational impediments and get some real work done.