Monday Thought: I Get It

Here’s the good news:

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So if you like what you’re reading, please tell a friend.

Today’s is sponsored by MY friend, Michael Kyriak.

Michael and I met at Vanderbilt in 2008 and became close during many college adventures together. We lived together sophomore year. He let me sleep on his couch throughout pretty much my entire first year out of school. We were in each other’s wedding parties. And, most importantly, he paid me $5.34 to sponsor this newsletter.

He is a true class act, so check out his LinkedIn, and if you do business in whatever realm he does (c’mon, know no one really knows what each other’s college friends do), please hit him up.

Mike also just had a baby girl, so today’s newsletter is about babies.

And what we can learn from raising them for marketing purposes.

Onto the thought…

Monday Thought

I get it.

I now get when people say…

“It’s like my baby,” in reference to a early business, start-up, or project.

Especially when that person is the founder, or an early employee.

They began at the ground floor of the company, and the emotional pull it has on you them similar to having and raising a child.

As a father myself now for 4 weeks (lol), I can now proudly say that I get it.

I understand how the connection one has to a child, is similar to the one someone has with a company they founded or were an early part of.

But…

I’m not talking about the emotional connection, the love you have for the child / company.

I’m talking about logistically.

Because raising a child is fucking terrifying.

As is being on the ground floor of a company, especially one you’ve started.

Every day is frightening.

There is no consistency. One day is great. The next, chaos.

Every small thing, is a triumph.

They rolled over during tummy time? It’s the greatest day of my life.

Our sales surpassed 1k yesterday for the first time? It’s the greatest day of my life.

And it’s a lot of dreaming. Dreaming of a future that will come.

Their first words, steps, smiles.

Your first profit, headquarters, IPO.

And when it comes to raising it, to scaling it, it’s equal parts regimented and confusing.

To raise a baby, you need to follow a strict script.

Feed it every 3 hours. Make sure it has enough.

Which feels similar to how early employees / founders feel when trying to scale their companies for the first time.

When you launch a campaign, it’s not, “let’s see what happens.”

It’s, ok it’s been 3 hours. Optimize this. Optimize that. Change this up.

It’s constant tinkering, in pursuit of getting it exactly right.

Especially if there’s crying. Or a problem.

How can we wait when there is clearly something wrong, that needs fixing?

For babies, it’s quite on the nose called “formula” - the easiest food they eat to get bigger.

For baby companies, it’s called Facebook - the easiest food they eat to get bigger.

As agencies, sometimes we try to push too much, too soon on clients advertising for the first time, or doing their first big campaign.

And now, I get it.

It’s like offering filet mignon to a baby.

It might be world-class, but they can’t eat it yet.

And if they could, they wouldn’t appreciate it.

Bust most of all, I understand now how vague advice for an early company is absolutely the worst thing you can give them.

As a new parent, there is a lot of advice out there.

Too much to sift through.

And I disregard advice on both ends of the spectrum.

The alarmist point of views? Get out of here, those are too much for me to handle.

The, “you have to be patient” views? Yeah, understood, but the baby is crying and I need to do something immediately.

As marketers, let’s recognize when we get new clients, especially those who have never done this before and / or are early employees at the company, they can’t handle 2 things:

• “The world is falling” prognostications - that if they don’t do something quickly, they’re in peril. No one wants to hear that their world is over, they just want to know what to do.

• Vague assertions that impact will be felt eventually - while true, and better for the long-term, it won’t stop the short-term crying.

Really, it’s never been clearer that as agency people, we really are babysitters.

Because the clients we have sometimes are scared shitless, just as if they are new parents.

They haven’t done this before. They’re coming to us for sage advice.

And they don’t have time for unclear advice, or alarming rhetoric.

They just want to stop the crying.

Ultimately, if you’re a brand looking for that advice, be weary of agencies or people without the requisite experience to put you at ease.

Do you want to work with a big shop whose babysitters are fresh out of college, or those who have seen what you are seeing before?

Because remember:

Alarmists are assholes.

As are people who preach patience, and won’t fix the imminent problem.

Because any misstep feels like it could be catastrophic.

So I get it.

I get how raising a baby, is like raising a company.

Now it’s time for marketers to recognize that too.

And approach new parents and companies with the necessary caution required.

Stay thinkin,

Danny