Builders are services designed to set the foundation for future success, whereas drivers are intended to produce short-term results.
Drivers are marketing activities that generate traffic, create inbound links, produce quality leads, make connections, establish relationships, and grow your clients" businesses.
Every agency in the ecosystem, from disruptors to soloists, has to understand that there are no more silos in marketing. Everything is connected. Success depends on the integration of services and collaboration among firms.
We are so focused on meeting short-term demands for our time and attention that we have lost sight of the higher-priority outputs that will build our careers and businesses and make us better and happier people.
Our minds are wired to work and think sequentially, not simultaneously. In other words, it is biologically impossible for us to give our full attention to more than one task at once.
Chapter 9.
Embrace Failure Never hesitate to head in a direction that others seem to fear.
If Your Model Is Broke, Fix It
History is full of industry leaders and business pioneers who have become irrelevant because they failed to innovate and evolve. Maybe it is the result of conservative cultures, poor leadership, a lack of will and vision, or the systematic inertia that builds from years of complacency.
Or, possibly, they were just afraid. People fear the unknown. They resist taking the bold and decisive actions that are needed to survive because they do not want to fail. However, we learn from failure. It builds character, teaches us humility, shows us how to cope with adversity, and challenges us to continually test, revise, and improve.
Marketing agencies are no different. Agency leaders become comfortable in their positions. They learn to ignore their instincts for change, instead favoring status quo. They make decisions to avoid short-term risk and pain, often to the detriment of their agencies" long-term viability. Even worse, this tentativeness trickles down to employees and carries over into client campaigns.
Marketing agencies must take action to survive and thrive in the new ecosystem. They have to make difficult choices to break from traditional agency-centric pricing models, invest in technology, recruit and retain hybrid professionals, build scalable infrastructures, and transform their services. They have to be willing to make mistakes. They have to embrace failure.
We can learn nearly as much from an experiment that does not work as from one that does. Failure is not something to be avoided but rather something to be cultivated. . . . All creative avenues yield the maximum when failures are embraced.
- Kevin Kelly, editor-at-large, Wired1
The Disruptor Advantage
The unknown is one of the most exciting things about being an entrepreneur. It is the adrenaline rush that comes from taking chances and venturing down the road less traveled. That is the disruptor agency advantage. These organizations, by their very nature, are risk takers. They thrive on change, easily tire of tradition, and pride themselves on their agility.
These emerging firms have less to lose than their larger, more conservative compet.i.tors. They are building new, hybrid agency models from the ground up. They do not have the restrictions of legacy systems or the internal politics that hinder change. They have flexibility in their pricing, lower overhead costs, and more dynamic and versatile talent.
Disruptors need to be willing to take risks the established agencies cannot or will not. While traditionalists try to fix their models, you should be focused on continually reinventing yours.
Never hesitate to head in a direction that others seem to fear.
The Traditionalist Opportunity
I have watched some incredibly talented traditional firms fade or disappear in the last decade because they continued to do what was familiar. While revenues fell, and their staffs slowly churned, they would just put their heads down and keep grinding. Rather than getting to the root of the problem-a broken model-they would raise billable-hour rates, form a few strategic partnerships, and reach out to the same tired networks on which they built their firms.
Many of them suffered from what I call the Frodo syndrome. In the 2001 cla.s.sic movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins, beaten down and scared, confides in Gandalf, "I wish none of this had happened." To which Gandalf, in his wizardry wisdom, replies, "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Traditionalists, along with soloists and specialists, have to put their fears aside and confront the challenges ahead, just as Frodo did in The Lord of the Rings. They have to acknowledge something is wrong, be willing to fix what is broken, and return to the ideas and inspirations that made them great. They have to think and act more like start-ups. They have to become disruptors themselves.
Experiment with Services and Pricing Although traditional firms may hesitate to make major overhauls to their services and pricing, they can start to progress by experimenting in niches or with select prospects.
For example, we released our first service packages in fall 2008. They were targeted at the specific needs and goals of HubSpot customers. Pricing ranged from $1,299 per month for the starter package, to $2,999 per month for the enterprise solution. These packages bundled services such as SEO a.n.a.lysis, on-page optimization, landing pages, blogging, and social media consulting.
These first service packages helped to differentiate the agency and bring in new business, but I would not consider them a financial success. The efficiencies and profitability were low, but that was part of the process. We had to take a chance and try something new in order to learn and evolve.
Trust Your Instinct Trust your gut instinct when it comes to determining direction. Research and a.n.a.lyze your options, but only to refute what you already know to be the best choice. This can become challenging in larger agencies, but the most effective CEOs are adept at building consensus and support for their visions, no matter how unconventional they may be.
You should try to do things that most people would not.
- Larry Page, Google cofounder and CEO2 Deconstruct Your Brand Be willing to deconstruct your brand and business model to remain relevant, and position yourself where the market is going. History means nothing if you have no future.
Maintain a Sense of Controlled Urgency Some of the greatest inventions and advances in business have come in the face of adversity, but do not wait for desperate times to evolve. The best time to pursue opportunities and innovations is when you are prospering. Something or someone will eventually come along to disrupt your agency, so it might as well be you.
Look Beyond Tradition Following tradition and conventional wisdom is easy, and boring. Take risks, be bold, and dare to fail.
Failing Forward: The Return and Revenge of Steve Jobs
In 1984 Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, the company he cofounded in 1976 out of a family garage. He went on to found NeXT, a computer company, which was acquired by Apple in 1996 for $429 million. Jobs returned to Apple as CEO in 1997, and he has since created some of the most transformational technology products in history.
Spend Less Time Planning, More Time Doing
Plans have their place in business and life, but I have found that they often serve as a convenient excuse to avoid action. We hold meetings, form committees, set goals, create proposals, a.s.sign responsibilities, and build task lists and timelines. We spend months agonizing over details and gaining approvals, only to have our strategies be outdated by the time they are finally activated.
Business moves too fast to watch from the sidelines. Technology is changing, consumer behavior is evolving, and compet.i.tion is emerging. Marketing agencies have to become more agile. They have to focus less on thinking and talking and more on doing, both for themselves and their clients.
Venture into the Unknown In January 2011, Seth G.o.din, best-selling author of Linchpin, took to the Helen Mills theater stage in New York to share his ideas on the new dynamics of publishing.
It was an intimate affair with 100 attendees, including myself. There were no PowerPoints, splashy parties, or corporate sponsors. We spent six hours listening, asking questions, and discussing what is next for the book-publishing industry. Although the event was targeted at authors and book publishers, the lessons learned apply to all marketers.
My favorite line of the day came when someone asked G.o.din how he so consistently innovates and creates remarkable content. To summarize his reply: "I practice staring into the abyss."
His message was that if you are not scared and unsure when creating content and pushing new ideas, then it is probably not worth pursuing. We have to challenge ourselves to tackle the unknown. We have to look into the dark to find the light.
Failing Forward: Beds, Breakfasts, and a Billion-Dollar Valuation Founded in August 2008 by Brian Chesky (@bchesky) and Joe Gebbia (@jgebbia), Airbnb is a marketplace that connects people who have s.p.a.ce to spare with those who are looking for a place to stay. The concept was created by accident, when Chesky, an industrial designer, moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
An international design conference was coming to San Francisco and all the hotels were sold out. The two eventual cofounders were trying to figure out how to make rent, so they decided to create an "airbed and breakfast" for one weekend during the conference. They ended up hosting three people, made some money, and had an amazing experience. The concept for Airbnb was born. They believed that, one day, people all over the world would do this.
However, the road was not that easy. According to Chesky, in a TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2011 interview, out of the 15 to 20 angel investors they met with in fall 2008, half did not return their e-mails, and the consensus was that it was an awful idea.
They got their break after meeting with Paul Graham (@paulg) of Y Combinator in January 2009. Graham thought the idea was terrible too, but invested in them because, as Chesky explains it, they were creative, smart entrepreneurs, and Graham figured they would eventually change their idea.
Well, it turned out that Chesky and Gebbia saw a market no one else could. As of June 2011, they had booked more than 1.6 million nights in 181 countries. In July 2011 they raised a Series B financing round of $112 million at a $1 billion-plus valuation.
When asked to explain how they had gone from a start-up no one wanted to invest in to one of Silicon Valley"s hottest companies, Chesky said, "It was just something that seemed like obviously a bad idea, until one day it just seemed like obviously a good idea."3 Make it Safe for Employees to Fail Innovation in agencies cannot always come from the top. Employees must feel empowered to contribute to the agency"s advancement. Their ideas and inspirations should be nurtured and cultivated.
Although careless mistakes are unacceptable, professionals should not be afraid to miss or falter. It is easy to lose confidence and become conservative if you constantly fear your actions will be questioned and criticized. Agencies should build cultures that encourage and reward creativity and innovation.
If you don"t make mistakes, you"re not working on hard enough problems. And that"s a big mistake.4 -Frank Wilczek, 2004 n.o.bel Prize winner in physics Don"t Make Promises That You Can"t Keep Sometimes when we are small, we make promises that are too big. Just remember, once you break a promise, there is no going back. Keep expectations in line with your ability to deliver at scale. Do not let desperation or a lack of perspective cloud your judgment and actions. Be ready for increased expectations as you grow and evolve.
Master the Art of the Unexpected Give people something they did not know they wanted, and take them places they did not expect to go. Think Steve Jobs. No one does it better.
Apply this thinking to your content, business model, and personal brands. In order to capture and keep the attention of the crowds, we must take chances and be willing to go where others will not.
Always Fight Like the Underdog It is more exciting when the odds are against you. Underdogs have pa.s.sion and the intrinsic drive to keep fighting, no matter the odds or obstacles. They have purpose.
Chapter Highlights.
We learn from failure. It builds character, teaches us humility, shows us how to cope with adversity, and challenges us to continually test, revise, and improve.
Marketing agencies have to make difficult choices to break from traditional agency-centric pricing models, invest in technology, recruit and retain hybrid professionals, build scalable infrastructures, and transform their services.
Disruptor agencies do not have the restrictions of legacy systems or the internal politics that hinder change. They have flexibility in their pricing, lower overhead costs, and more dynamic and versatile talent.
Traditionalists have to be willing to fix what is broken and return to the ideas and inspirations that made them great.
History means nothing if you have no future.
The best time to pursue opportunities and innovations is when you are prospering. Something, or someone, will eventually come along to disrupt your agency, so it might as well be you.
Marketing agencies have to become more agile. They have to focus less on thinking and talking and more on doing, both for themselves and their clients.
If you are not scared and unsure when creating content and pushing new ideas, then it is probably not worth pursuing.
Employees must feel empowered to contribute to the agency"s advancement. Their ideas and inspirations should be nurtured and cultivated.
Give people something they did not know they wanted, and take them places they did not expect to go.
Chapter 10.
Pursue Purpose It is purpose, not profits, which defines an agency.
Stand for Something
Success is not about money, or at least it should not be. We all have basic financial needs that must be satisfied, but no amount of money, fame, or power will bring happiness. In fact, my experiences have shown me that they often have the opposite effect on people. In order to find happiness, we must be a part of something greater than ourselves, something that we truly believe in.
The same holds true for businesses. Although for-profit companies exist to make money, the most important organizations, the ones that have the potential to change industries and our world, are often started because the founders believe they have a higher calling.