Old dog no longer young enough to know it all

“Father — you make everything look incredible, but you’re really shit at marketing”.

These words were uttered a few months ago by my daughter Harriet while prepping for a video shoot for my first commission.

Now there was a time when I’d have sent her to her room. But as she’s 31, a homeowner, and runs her own marketing business, my authority in this situation is somewhat diminished.

But she’s right. Her marketing truth bomb hit its intended target. Have you seen my marketing? No, neither have I.

A subsequent conversation with her brilliant mother underlined this further. Talking about the NHS where she works, I offered my usual sage quip of “you don’t get surgeons to run the hospital”.

My brain joined the dots between conversations. And then more dots joined in when I remembered the “write about what you know” maxim.

It all added up to something that I have tried to live by but seemingly forgotten —?play to your strengths.

And that’s not marketing. Luckily the rest of the forthright conversation with the offspring showed me the way forward, so much so that she created the job of marketing intern. I start on Monday.

So changes are afoot. I won’t be dancing on TikTok or becoming any kind of talking head. But I’m going to be rather more active and focused in the right places.

Next task — a mailing list.