CreativeG

Why Marketing Should Be About Discovery, Not Just Flashy Brochures

You know, over the years, I’ve found myself in this almost instinctive process of creating visions for brands and businesses. Sometimes it’s for my own projects, other times, I’ve been pulled in to help someone else out. It’s always the same drill: dig into some research, have a few key conversations, and bam—suddenly, I can see the bigger picture—the brand, the position, the market. But honestly, it’s often just a mix of educated guesses, and nothing’s certain until you test it in the real world.

Conversations Lead to Opportunities

Recently, I was helping out as a general dogsbody (basically, doing a bit of everything), and I found myself naturally having these conversations where the problems, opportunities, and visions for the business just jumped out at me. I presented this picture to the owners, excited to share what I’d seen. But, here’s the twist—what I didn’t anticipate was the reaction. Suddenly, what I thought was clear became complicated. The “customer” wasn’t actually the customer I thought they were, and the whole thing caused a bit of friction. Big lesson learned there—I moved on.

The Power of a Clear Vision

Not long after, I was asked to look at another project, and I went into it with the same approach: research, conversations, building a vision. And this time? The owner loved it—so much so that they handed me shares in the business. That’s when I started thinking, maybe I am some sort of marketeer after all (my wife has been telling me this for years, by the way). Sometimes, it’s just about seeing things clearly and showing people what could be.

Why Has Marketing Gotten Lazy?

Then, I had this conversation with a friend in a different business. They were so sure they didn’t need marketing because the vision was so clear, so known. “We don’t need marketing,” they said, “we’ve proven ourselves.” Yet, not five minutes later, they admitted they lose money every off-season. And that’s when it hit me: marketing these days feels lazy. So much of it is just prettying up a brochure, slapping a new color on a website, or saying you’re doing SEO, even though it’s outsourced.

Where’s the curiosity? The discovery? Where’s the effort to really understand what the business is at its core?

It’s All About Clarity and Experience

To me, marketing isn’t about throwing money at a website redesign or posting generic content. It’s about clarity. When I ask someone, “Where do you go for that?” I want them to immediately think of X. Not Y, not Z—X, because that’s just where you go for that thing, no questions asked.

And it’s not just about what you’re selling. It’s the whole experience—from the staff who serve you to the way you feel when you leave. It’s all those little moments, all wrapped up into one, that stick with you long after the sale. And that’s not something you can fake with flashy designs or clever slogans.

A Mutual Thing—For the Business and the Customer

Here’s the secret: marketing only works when everyone’s on board—the business, the staff, the customers. It’s a shared experience. The knowledge, the trust, the satisfaction—it has to be mutual. You can’t have one without the other. And if one part of that equation jumps off the seesaw, well, it stops being a seesaw pretty quickly, doesn’t it?

So, yeah, maybe I’m a bit of a marketeer after all. But the way I see it, marketing isn’t just about promotion or making things look good. It’s about discovering what something truly is, and letting that guide everything else.