They say that children will teach you many great lessons over the course of your life. I'm at the very beginning of that journey, as my son Levi will be turning 1 next month. It's been a wild ride so far! So many good laughs, moments of growth, and mistakes made. He's such a joy in my life and the best gift.
What I didn't expect was that my son would teach me special lessons about marketing. As I'm on my own journey of improving my copywriting skills, reading some of the classic books on effective advertising, and developing myself as a marketer, I find some of the lessons I'm learning run parallel to the lessons I'm learning as a parent.
Here are those valuable lessons...
Learn Baby Talk
I love sitting with Levi as he explores our living room. On the way he makes all sorts of "beeps" and "boops". At times they seem random, and at other times they seem like real responses to questions my wife and I ask him. I find myself sometimes speaking his language. He usually stares at me like, "Dad, what on earth are you saying?!" Then, he smiles and laughs a little bit. It's my own way of engaging in conversation with my little guy. I just had to learn a little bit of his language.
Marketing lesson: Learn the language of your audience/community. The only way to learn that lingo is to communicate with them. Create opportunities for conversation in the customer journey. You'll pick up valuable information.
Patience...You Must Have Patience
No matter what you are doing with Levi, you have to be patient. If you're playing with him, feeding him, getting him dressed, or changing his diaper, things can escalate rather quickly if you can't learn to go with the flow and not get frustrated. I did happen to get frustrated with a very difficult onesie one time...Patience is key.
Marketing lesson: I think marketers know this...marketing/branding takes time. Essentially, you're targeting communities and audiences to raise awareness, developing interest, and generating leads. This doesn't happen overnight. Marketing/branding is a long-game. Operations teams need to understand this so everyone plays nice on the playground at work. I once had someone tell me posting on social media didn't work...after two weeks. Well it's going to take a little longer than that.
Feed Em'!
Levi loves to eat. Just last night he was having the time of his life with a few french fries from Smashburger. If it's on your plate, he wants a bite of it. He loves bananas, sweet potatoes, and apples from Gerber. If you don't feed him...he gets hungry!
Marketing lesson: You have to feed your community, your audience, your customers, and your channels with content. Hit the publish button! You have to continually develop engaging, entertaining, and/or educational content that keeps them involved and loyal with your brand. If you don't, they will forget about you and go somewhere else where they will get fed.
It's Play Time!
Over the past few months, I've loved seeing Levi become more engaged when I want to play with him. He's more interactive. When I make funny faces, he actually laughs! He loves to play peek-a-boo, wrestle on the floor, and attempt to walk (holding daddy or mommy's hand).
Marketing lesson: As your community and your audience grows, people want to interact with you more. A lot of action can happen in the comments, in DMs, or when you go live. Don't be afraid
to create playful situations and interesting conversations and interactions.
Back to the Basics
The next time you're feeding a baby, playing with them, or changing their diaper, I hope you remember these marketing basics. Kidding! Actually, I hope you're engaged with your child and not thinking about marketing, but maybe as you sit down to relax after you put them to sleep, you'll ponder the lessons learned. Perhaps you'll realize that the lessons go far beyond parenthood.
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