• Letting go

    Posted on December 29th, 2006 by and currently 3 commenting.

    Sometimes the hardest advice to take is the advice that you are used to giving out to others. We preach to our clients how they need to relinquish control of their messaging, since it’s not really up to them anyway. But when it comes time for us as marketers to do the same thing, it’s sometimes hard medicine to swallow. We work so hard and delve so deep into different cultures to create this community or identity, sometimes literally rolling up our sleeves and riding on delivery trucks, or spending the weekend at a retreat in the mountains with teenagers, or trying to crawl inside the head of engineers. And then, when our job is finished and it’s time to let go, we don’t want to. We created this thing ” this organic lifeform ” and we don’t want anyone else to harm it or taint it or change it. But, the truth is, it really wasn’t ours to begin with.

    And we need to remember that.

    When funding gets pulled or it’s time to turn the identity back over to the internal marketing department, we can put everything in place, create guidelines, etc. – but if we have truly done our jobs, then it will survive on its own. I guess it’s all about sustainability. It’s a vital part of any solid identity or word of mouth movement. You can buzz and hype all you want, but when the money is gone and the buzzers have moved on to something else, what will keep on keepin’ on? It’s the difference between a flash in the pan and an evergreen.

  • http://minethatdata.blogspot.com Kevin Hillstrom

    Well said, Spike. Good job! Happy New Year.

  • http://www.brainsonfire.com/ Geno

    Your post reminds me of the advice my father gave after one of my painful teenage breakups. “Son, relationships are funny things. Sometimes the best thing to do is let it go, and something greater might return.” When it comes down to it as marketers we can and do fall in love with our clients communities (internal and external) and letting go is like teen break ups there hard to go through.

  • Kristin

    Great Advice. And perfect timing on this reminder. We need to be reminded not just at the end of a project, but at the beginning, that “it’s all about sustainability”. We need to create and contribute knowing that someday, we will have to give our work back or let it go. So why not start with that in mind, and make the work that much better. That much more sustainable.