10 Mindset Essentials for Marketing Success

It takes mental toughness to be successful as a Chief Marketing Officer. Here's my advice on the 10 characteristics of a successful mindset for marketers!

#1 Activate Your Empathy

I say this all the time, but it bears repeating. You MUST make marketing about your customer and not about your brand. Putting yourself in another person's shoes and seeing things from their view point will help you with marketing communication with external prospects AND inside your organization.

#2 Think Long Term

Marketing is an endurance sport, and patience is the key to success. You also need the will to see things through to completion, even when the road is long and filled with obstacles. Determination is required.

#3 Maintain a Positive Outlook

Always look for the upside and focus on what can go right! You can be risk aware, but you shouldn't be risk averse. Marketing NEVER works if you are afraid to give new things a try. You MUST be courageous and take action.

#4 Be a Visionary

Marketing shouldn't be about scraping together some incremental gains. Be bold and consider how you would market if you wanted to 10X a business. What would you prioritize? What decisions would you make differently?

#5 Give Yourself Space

Dedicated thinking time is a must have for marketing genius to emerge. If you do your best thinking away from a computer screen, take time to unplug. If you ideate best with others, find your sounding board and schedule intentional time for brainstorming.

#6 Fail Fast and Forward

Embrace mistakes as part of the continuous learning process. Test new ideas with the end goal of figuring out what works - not just with the hope that something will work. Few marketing errors are irreversible - except the failure to act at all. You can't go back in time and capture lost opportunity.

#7 Cultivate Humility

Be realistic about your weaknesses AND your strengths. Be eager to learn from EVERYONE, even those younger, older, less experienced, or outside your industry. You never know where the next lightbulb moment will come from.

#8 Roll Up Your Sleeves

A great strategist is never "above it all." Be willing to get down in the weeds to figure things out. No amount of strategy is going to be successful if you won't do what it takes to execute relentlessly.

#9 Love What You Do

Find the things that get you excited about your job and do some of that every day. Find ways to systemize, streamline, and delegate the rest without sacrificing quality.

#10 Commit to Mastery

This is the most critical aspect of mindset. Mastery is a journey with no end. Pursue knowledge, embody it as wisdom, and uplift others with your impact. Learn, relearn, do, teach, and innovate in your domain.

What are your top mindset traits for successful marketing? Share in the comments.