5 lessons learned inside the first five years of my marketing career proper.

In approaching half a decade since graduation, I have been reflecting upon the five key learnings that I would tell the Tom Ravenhill of 2015.

1. There’s no such thing as a bad idea.

Creativity is the lifeblood of marketing, and to an extent, of business as a whole. You don’t have to recreate the wheel for each micro campaign, but a healthy dose of innovation is needed even to successfully repurpose an idea executed by another brand. You cannot teach creativity, and so it must be cherished and nurtured - never shut down or shunned.

If an idea just isn't feasible, it should be met with a “No, BUT...”

Never, ever just a no.

True, an idea may be poorly timed, inconceivable or outside of budget/ bandwidth restraints, but it may just ignite or embed a thought in somebody else for that big idea that does work, and moves the needle - creative sparks also grow into creative wildfires at a boardroom table brainstorm, and so should be encouraged no matter what.

Case-in-point; I once pitched an off-the-cuff idea in the boardroom for a Tinder-inspired video montage involving a bodybuilder and a big bag of protein powder - sounds stupid, huh? True, but it also garnered thousands of dollars worth of media impressions!

2. 'Six Second Ads' are the present and future of advertising. Period.

To-the-point. Non-disruptive. Entertaining. Value-adding.

6SAs can and should be your primary weapon in the war against perennially dipping attention spans, a term I like to call ‘anti-advertising’ as well as a digital landscape that is becoming busier by the day.

The sheer calibre of the narrative that you can weave inside just six seconds always astounds me. With logo recognition throughout, ensure that your 6SAs are conversational and HUMAN by their very nature - the verbiage should literally be something that you would text to your friend, and supported/ given context via the caption in the feed.

Through 6SAs thus far, I have delivered a 66% uptick in click-through versus still creative - and thus, a new preferred ad format at the Whitecaps?? was born!

See my Six Second Ad collection to date, via the link below.

3. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

People are motivated in different ways - intrinsically or extrinsically. Some by money, some by experience, some by mentorship and education. Some cannot be inspired by working for others, and so have to look internally to find that driving force. 

For example, B2B marketing can be very tough to do well, with limited return - if that ‘return’ isn’t benefitting you or your pay packet directly, look at it like this; can I use this experience to MASTER B2B MARKETING for the betterment of my future?

4. It’s all in the presentation. 

I have seen first hand that very similar creative can be approved and disapproved by the very same person, depending on circumstance - it’s all about how you frame it.

By better speaking to the benefits of doing X, the ROI, by showcasing it in-situ (how will it look to the consumer?), by pandering to and really knowing your audience - you will get a very different result.

People also just want to be involved in the process - let them, and doors will swing open for you. 

5. Not everybody will get you.

That’s life. It would be boring if everybody did, to be honest. Work around it. Embrace it, even! Stay true to yourself, and don’t let life or business change YOU.

Ultimately, don’t let the world dull your shine - I read that line written on my mirror every single morning! ??