Recently, I visited with a very smart Silicon Valley CEO. We were discussing a new product that he is very excited about and the product got me very excited as well. He was really challenging me for insights into the marketing and the launch of the product. He was struggling with the “how to scale” versus quick revenue that many VC’s want you to go get as soon as possible. It is a quandary, because there are so many new marketing tools and many new ways to go-to-market with new technologies.
This made me reflect that for most of my career, the go-to-market and marketing strategies where not that complex. I think it could be this simplistic: The product had a marketplace where it was faced and promoted with trade dollars, and it was advertised on TV, radio or print with advertising dollars. PR was important, but not critical, and there were no social media assets to contend with.
Today’s world is so different. Let’s just go through some of the new basic must haves for promoting a product. You need content for all social channels and good aspirational and inspirational content; Facebook Friends and Facebook advertising; Paid search to make sure you are always on the top of the page; Twitter monitoring 24/7 and Twitter seeding and Instagram photos, just for a start. Oh my, that’s enough to overwhelm anyone. And then layer on TV, print and radio, not to mention that many angel investors really don’t understand the social media world and you have a crazy environment.
So my CEO friend was bundled in a knot on how to launch. So much so that we had a follow-up meeting the next day and I was starting to get concerned that we were both overwhelmed, when the ah-ha moment hit us both.
You have to rely on and understand that there is always one answer (and for most of my personal career it has worked, and the great news is that if it doesn’t, you can change and change quickly.) Trust your instinct.
So upon parting, I told him to go with his instinct. If it’s wrong, change it. Period. Quit thinking about all of the coordinates and different strategies. Go with his (and his teams’) instinct.
Now, no one knows how the brain processes all of the billions of stimuli that hit us in a microsecond or how the billions of bacteria in our gut communicate with all of our organs, but what we do know is they do. And when someone is immersed in the information of a product, a marketplace or a strategy for launch and revenue, that person has stimulated more points of contact than anyone on the planet—so why wouldn’t your gut—your instinct—be the guiding light.
Well, I think it is, in fact. In this over stimulated world, my feeling is that all of us need to get basic and get back to our own instincts and feelings and run with them. YEP! No one knows better than your billions of cells which step forward you should take. Take it with confidence that somehow your body (which is the most incredible processor in the world) is guiding you in the right direction. If it’s not, do another “gut check” and change. Your instinct is evolving—with every stimulus, every moment— so, go with your gut. YEAH!
Your instinct is perfect—
AZ
