Scott Jeffrey Miller - Marketing Mess to Brand Success: 30 Challenges to Transform Your Organizations Brand (and Your Own)

Copyright 2021 by Scott Jeffrey Miller.

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

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Marketing Mess to Brand Success: 30 Challenges to Transform Your Organizations Brand (and Your Own)

ISBN:(p) 978-1-64250-380-7 (e) 978-1-64250-381-4

Library of Congress Control Number: pending

BISAC category code: BUS019000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Decision-Making & Problem Solving

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

When I first wrote Management Mess to Leadership Success, I had no idea how it would be received or how it would change my own life. The idea started out simply enoughthere were over 100,000 leadership books available on Amazon, replete with academic musings, principle-laden insights, inspirational stories (told by a diverse field ranging from CEOs to former Navy Seals), and new ways of understanding and harnessing the human psyche. There are many gems to be found among these books and I spend a good deal of my time interviewing and learning from their authors. I truly love and treasure many of these titles, but they were not the kind of book I wanted to write.

In taking stock of my own journey, I felt a strong pull toward being completely open and honestto some, maybe too much so. That meant acknowledging and unpacking many of my career missteps, bad assumptions, or outright failures. I hadnt crystalized this desire into the theme of messes yet; I just felt I couldnt authentically share my experiences with a highlight reel of just my home runs. To authentically convey my journey, I needed many of the foul balls and forced errors highlighted as well. Why? Because on reflection, thats where I often learned the most, grew the most, or developed a sensitivity to better spot both messes and successes down the road. It was with this insight that the charge of Own your mess began to take shape. But even then, I had no idea how much this concept would resonate with others.

Im fortunate to be a guest on a number of podcasts and to present as a keynote speaker at both public and private events. Almost without fail, what I am asked about most is my willingness to be so open and vulnerable in making it safe for very competent professionals to acknowledge and own their messes. If I was unsure if I had tapped into something real and pressing in peoples lives, that was put to rest in a speech to nearly seven thousand conference attendees at Rachel Holliss RISE Business event in Charleston, South Carolina. This massive audience closed my speech by chanting, Own your mess, in unison over and over again. It was incredibly validating. We all have messes to face up to, and if we shirk that experience and fail to learn from them, our careers, our relationships, and even our sense of who we truly are will be compromised. And perhaps more importantly, when leaders own their messes, they make it safe for others to own theirs. And thats a culture everyone wants to engage in.

On the flip side, as I now author the second book in the Mess to Success seriesfocused on marketing one might be tempted to wonder: Just how many messes did you make, Scott? Or to continue with my baseball analogy, am I setting myself up as the professional equivalent of the Bad News Bears? My short answer is not only no, but hell no. Messes are the byproduct of doing . Famed fiction author Neil Gaiman said it perfectly: [I]f you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You are doing things you have never done before, and more importantly, you are Doing Something. So go ahead and own your messes, because they are the by-product of you in motionliving, growing, taking risks, setting goals, stepping outside your comfort zone, and making a mark in the world. Conversely, the only formula for avoiding messes is to do nothing. So yes, Ill take my messes, thank you very much. And that includes my marketing messes.

While I served as the chief marketing officer for a large, multinational public company, an associate once announced that I knew nothing about marketing. And this was someone I had specifically recruited and hired after lobbying to fund their new role! And in case you were wondering, the rebuke didnt come during a private conversation over drinks. They proclaimed it in front of four of the organizations directorsall of whom reported to me as well.

You know nothing, Scott Miller .

If youre not a Game of Thrones fan, just ignore that last part and keep reading.

How many marketing messes does it take to earn such a critique? More than one, Im sure. Probably a lot. So for this book, Ive selected thirty of the most common marketing messes (and potential successes) that professionals will face throughout their careerwhatever the level of your role, size of your organization, or focus of your industry. Not all of them are my messes; Ive made my share of mistakes over three decades of formal and informal marketing roles, and Ive also seen a bevy of them from others. Many of the messes in this book are either drawn from my own experiences or those Ive witnessed and been dragged into in some way or another. As such, you may find that this book serves as a kind of marketing career guide as well, and thats fine. What this book isnt is a manual on the four Ps of marketing (product, price, placement, and promotion) or what to do on Day One of your new marketing role. If youre looking for that level of instruction, youre not only reading the wrong book, youve probably said yes to the wrong job. However, if you want to purchase the book and use the jacket to hide your Fifty Shades novel on the flight home or The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck on the way to your performance review, please feel free.

Moving from the topic of management in the first Mess to Success book to marketing came inadvertently from one of my coaches. She told me that I was always in persuasion modealways trying to convince and influence people to think like me, follow my lead, believe what I believe, or do what I want them to do. Ironically, she meant it as a critique of my style and personality, but I took it as a compliment (despite the eye roll when I thanked her). But it got me thinking that persuasionconvincing someone or some group to understand what you believe to be trueis really what marketing is all about. Ideally, this translates into that individual or group adopting your service, hiring your brand, contributing to your cause, voting for your candidate, or buying your product. Its great when they do, and it is your fault when they dont. Welcome to marketing.