As much as the marketing services the customers – it serves the brand itself. The way a brand speaks and markets itself is the way at which it does work.

The two can’t be mutually exclusive – at least for long.

Successful and effective marketing requires alignment – alignment of both how work is carried out in all departments and alignment in the values that are marketed about an organization.

This is in other words internal and external alignment. Misalignment in marketing is what creates uncertainty and inauthenticity for both customers and employees.

Marketing today is much too focused on tactics rather then strategy; on method rather than the customer.

Mania is the irrational obsession for the optimization of posts, the hype of new platforms and the emotional roller coaster of what is happening in the now.

Mania by definition is overactivity and excitement which is what also defines an amateur marketer.

There is no praise for strategic thinking or deep customer insight – there is only praise for marketing hustle or joining in on marketing social change.

However, this will catch up to marketers in the long-run. It is mis-weighting bias that stunts the performance the marketing in the long run by mis-weighting the importance of these short term tactics for what really matters for the customer in the long run.

Next time when you feel yourself giving into the “marketing mania” – don’t. Instead think deeply about the purpose of marketing: to create customers and provide them with value.

Selling starts with the question of: “Selling our products and services” And demonstrating “our value proposition”

While marketing starts with the question of: “What does our customer want?” And “what would be of value to them?”

Marketing and sales work together, however one of the highest achievements marketing can accomplish is to make selling unnecessary – in other words superfluous.

Having a product or service so valued and desired by customers that you don’t even have to sell.

Marketing is commonly perceived as “getting the word out” letting people know what you stand for, what your purpose is and who you serve.

However, what nobody talks about is what not to say.

In fact, there are only so many things you can say – there is only one place to land and a thousand places to crash.

When you know what not to say, your strengthen what you decide to say.

Brand building requires to think deeply about both.

A direct response advertising agency is almost of form of being the cheapest. It’s like being the “Amazon” of marketing ( in terms of price). For example, as marketer or business owner, if I have identified that I want a direct marketing agency and I want a pay per lead system; I have also told myself a story of something like this: I want the most amount of leads for the least amount of money. Now I may desire to pay more to insure I have quality leads and to not damage my brand in the long run but once again that’s just another cost and risk I am trying to avoid by paying more up front.

The general theme of direct marketing is to lower risk and cost for immediate short term gains.

Now, building brands requires risk, which requires  incurring costs that may not realize any returns now, in the future or ever. Every creative venture or leap worth performing innately caries risk and if you can’t dance with the risk you can’t build real a brand.

Brand marketing is taking the path less followed. It can be dark and uncharted but sometimes it can be more rewarding. It is certainly more urgent.

Just like brands change people – brands change themselves.

Maybe they don’t change the core of what they represent but they may change how they communicate that message.

It may sound simple but a thriving brand is one that is constantly adapting, while an underperforming brand is one that remains static.

It takes activity to turn a non-customer into a customer and measure of adaptability in the brand usually relates to the quality of the brand.

So an institution is an organ of society. Its definition lies in not what it does or how it does it but rather in its total contribution.

So a brand’s value is directly related to its contribution. Contribution to its employees, customers and society. Brand is not a logo as the cliche goes.

However, brand is also not its other popular definitions. Brand is not reputation. Brand is not protection against variance. Brand is not synonymous with charging a premium. Brand is not about being distinctive, having a purpose, story or standing out. These are all secondary characteristics of a brand – meaning, they are all effects and/or by products of what a brand creates for customers and organizations but it is hardly what a brand is in and of itself.

A brand is the level of contribution it provides to its customers, employees and society as a whole.

Your customers, employees and society at large get to decide and measure just how valuable your contribution really is.

For a whole host of reasons more and more organizations are turning into vessels for real social change and responsibility.

Rather then just trying to get customers for themselves or for the “tribe” of their brand – a brands impact is a societal concern more than ever.

Brands function to serve society and the people of the society.

Brands that have deep rooted, authentic purposes are the ones who connect with customers and ultimately last.

You can’t bluff what your brand stands for or what it represents.

You can’t just watch a class online and apply it. You have to also apply it with your own truth to the brand.

Humans can feel authenticity – everyone can – and they can feel it in brands to. If it’s not there people know something is up.

For the brand to actually work it needs to come from the heart, from values, from an authentic story.

Why there are so few great brands out there is that people don’t honor being authentic enough in brand building – its all about sales and hype; but this is the difference between a world class brand and a bluff brand.

And the thing with bluffs is they don’t always work in the long run.

In marketing there is usually a compromise that takes place. A balance that has to be placed in effect.

This is a compromise that is sometime explicit but is most of the time unspoken about…

It is the question to the nature of: Is this a direct campaign or a brand campaign? and underlying that exact same question is the other more relevant question of: Will this marketing effort provide our organization with more short term or long term results?

To get the absolute max amount of customers in the short term requires sacrifice of customers in the long run and visa versa however, there are exceptions.

The brand flywheel is this exception: Creating a dynamic where you create customers in the short run while building brand value in the long run.