50 Stories Tall: The Fourth Story – The Difference Between Whiskey and You

As I continue to build these 50 stories every week, I’ve tried to lay down some foundational marketing elements in an effort to guide our way into the gnarly unknown. 

But with the majority of the steel and concrete in place, it’s now time to get into some cohesive structure about what I think marketing is, exactly. 

See, marketing can be this bonkers mix of demand-driven goals and cults of personality. 

Data that I just made up states that the overall discipline of Marketing is comprised of sixteen branching fields (e.g. promotions), and a nearly limitless number of ways to execute (e.g. discounts). 

The true value of any of those manners of execution may largely depend upon the person defining it for you, yet only one of those definitions is likely correct for your business. 

Sound impossible? 

That’s because it is. I literally just told you I was making this up. 

You’re bad at paying attention. 

Regardless, for something that drives everything in business, marketing sure is a squishy balloon of goo to define.  

Here – why don’t you go ahead and try to narrow it down from this list:

Marketing is...sales, relationships, advertising, experiences, events, coercion, products, competition, communication, need, research, sex, neuroscience, psychology, promotion, education, inspiration, desire, demographics, whiskey (fight me), copywriting, imagery, entertainment, commerce, passion, puppies, kittens, and monkeys. 

And a bunch of other stuff that I’ll remember at some point. 

Oh, and precision. 

Also, bacon. 

You’re beginning to become enthralled by my marketing prowess, I can sense it. Just let yourself soak in it. 

Let’s begin refining the definition with a simple premise: Best-in-class marketing is all of the above solutions, but only when paired with a pertinent problem. 

I mean, obviously, I guess? 

The thing is, I’m one of these jackasses making the case that the world runs on marketing. Not to the exclusion of more tangible disciplines like engineering, science, and manufacturing, but as a very necessary counterpart. And while I readily acknowledge marketing’s Death Star capabilities, I also know that it’s something more than a broadly tolerated evil. 

Marketing runs the world, because we are magnets. 

I know. 

I know.

I know.

This is all a lot. Frankly, rolling your eyes at me isn’t very productive. You’re gonna need to take some deep breaths for this to come together.

As much as I may openly advocate for straight-up murder while sitting alone in my car in traffic, I contend that the most powerful driving force in each of us is the desire to find that which connects us to one another.

I think that’s what marketing is, at its best – the connection between people. A solution to one another’s problems. The magnetic *click* with our interests, our loves, our fears, our needs, and our hopes. 

I know this concept may seem painfully cliché (and heaped with more than a little sugary optimism), but, in my defense, so is most marketing. 

If the true foundation of my marketing philosophy is magnets (which I’m just as surprised about as you, honestly), then the structure that sits on that foundation is this absolute truth:  

Everything in our world is the union of two things. Thing A and Thing B, in search of each other, yet already comprised of one another. A problem in search of a solution. An idea in search of an innovator. A break in search of a fix. A product in search of an owner. 

And the opposite of each of those.

Magnets. 

Connections. 

Two things.

That’s why the best marketers are always so stubborn about storytelling. We want to fully understand the problem, so that we can help light the way to the solution. We obsess with making that connection for people, with people, because that’s fulfilling, it’s fun, and it works. 

We strive to make those connections, because the connections themselves are what powers business, lives, invention, and re-invention.

Speaking of invention, I surely didn’t make up this idea of duality powering everything. It’s a core component of nearly every religious and philosophical belief. Yin and yang describes how seemingly opposite things may well be complementary and interconnected. It's that combination (opposites, yet complementary) that's the important distinction, as it relates to the practice of marketing.

The most inspired ideas, and the most effective solutions, often come from that which is both opposed to and intertwined with the problem. 

So how can you practically use this information in your business? I know you’re now anxiously looking to integrate magnets into your marketing strategies. 

Smart.

If I were you, I’d view every project and problem that presents itself in your path as an opportunity to find its complementary component, and then decipher the manner in which you’ll use that complementary piece to solve for X. 

A really nice example of this is the perpetual brand/product debate. Generally speaking, you know that your brand is not your product(s) and your products aren’t your brand. You’ll address each accordingly, you’ll understand that they’re magnetized, and you’ll make that connection work for you, instead of fighting against it or allowing them to become inexorably intertwined. 

Listen, here’s what I mean: Let’s take whiskey. Like, go ahead and grab one now, because it may help to “enhance” my point. 

If I’m working at a spirits company and I’m having an issue with stalled distribution and sales on my specialty bourbon whiskey in a saturated, fickle market with an odd consumer-purchase decision tree, I can address it in a number of ways. 

If I wanna get things moving, I could lower the price, sure. Easy choice - it’s fermented sugar water out of a wooden bucket, let’s just sell it for less. But my target demographic is suspicious of anything under $35. So, change my target demo? Think up a wacky promotion? Set up a bunch of tasting events? All solid, viable options that will likely move the needle a bit. 

But what’s the complementary partner to this problem? 

Let’s take a sec, here. If the failing bourbon is Thing A, what’s Thing B? What completes the equation to equal success?

You’re sitting here with this glass of bourbon. It tastes really good, but (so far) it ain't grabbing anyone's attention. You’re sipping it. The clinky cube there is crackling a bit. It puts you in a mood. 

This act of drinking your bourbon carries with it a story. You’re not drinking it because you’re parched. There’s something else that surrounds it. That something else is Thing B. 

You need to change the experience of the bourbon. 

See, it’s not failing because it’s got a bad label or it’s high-priced or it’s poorly-flavored. It’s not. You wouldn’t have gotten this far into development and production if those were your biggest barriers. 

You haven’t defined the experience of drinking your bourbon well enough. With rare exceptions, you don’t get a bottle of bourbon to sit on a shelf forever. You don’t get it to replenish your electrolytes after a peppy run. 

You have that bottle because you’re going to do something with it, likely with someone, likely something fun that will create a memory that you’ll laugh about later. 

That’s the hope, at least, right? That’s an appealing scenario. 

The complement to this loser bourbon is the experience of fun. 

Thing A is struggling bourbon. Thing B is an entertaining experience; a future memory. They are opposites, tangible and intangible, comprised of one another and complementary to one another. And you can’t have one without the other. 

I mean, yes, of course you can have fun and create great memories without drinking bourbon (allegedly), and you can drink bourbon without creating fun memories, but the solution to this Struggling Bourbon Conundrum is to do everything you can to equate memorable experiences with your bourbon and the opposite of that. 

Mag. Nets.

Work to align all brand, product, vertical, and project definitions into contrasting and interconnected pairs like this to bring some guidance to your business. Consider it part of a larger due-diligence process with your marketing team. 

Start with an honest definition of your Thing A, be it a struggling bourbon, ethereal 5G signal, shiny new gizmo, or fancy-schmancy tech app looking for an audience. Find its opposing force. Flip that force to complement your problem. 

And remember that the most powerful driving force in each of us is the desire to find that which connects us to one another. Tape that message to your refrigerator. 

Or better yet...

Use magnets.

Cory helps lead Marketing and Client Leadership at YAH Agency in Atlanta, which, I'll be damned, just happens to specialize in building marketing experiences for brands. His passions are writing, photography, and annoying his co-workers.