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O P I N I O N
Why?
A nyone with children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or any precocious youngsters in their lives will know exactly what I am talking about. The relentless stream of why questioning is a phase that most children go through. Channel your inner toddler and question everything about your marketing plan to uncover what still does or doesn’t work for you, your firm, and your goals.
Today, I suggest you revisit those days by channeling your inner toddler and aim that relentless stream of questioning on your own marketing plan, activities, and budget. Question everything and whether or not it still works for you, your firm, your goals, and your brand. BUT WHY? The overriding reason is, if an activity does not promote you, your firm, your goals, and your brand, it is probably time to stop doing it. So often, especially when firms that have some longevity behind them, we unconsciously do things because that’s the way we do things here. However, that justification is now a moot point. In 2021, it is time to completely leap over that mindset and realize that here is a very different place than it used to be. The global pandemic that
began in 2020 knocked us all out of the realm of business-as-usual. And the real kicker is, business- as-usual may never return. Ever. Which one could interpret as a great thing for marketing professionals. The pandemic is a disrupter of the grandest scale. This makes marketing and sharing your precise story more important now than ever. So we are faced with an opportunity to make things more thoughtful, meaningful, and relevant. And we can succeed by simply asking why. Let’s look at a basic example first, something that is a ubiquitous part of most AEC marketing: business cards.
Jane Lawler Smith
See JANE LAWLER SMITH, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER APRIL 19, 2021, ISSUE 1388
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