WHAT's going on?

Everybody loves a shortcut. Saves time, effort and money.

Marketing people are no different.

I bet you have plenty of challenges. And at the heart of it might well be understanding what’s happening. In your market, in your consumers’ lives, inside their heads.

So if someone beckons you down a less rocky path, of course you’re interested.

But beware that siren call.

It might be the argument that strategy can all be inside-out. Just answer the big ‘we’ questions about your company and keep your fingers crossed that somewhere in there is the consumer.

Or it might be the new beguiling charms of AI. Don’t worry, I’ll think it all through for you, ideas and all.

Or even seeing mental availability as both the start and end point. That’s what brands need to grow, so go and get more of it. Make your assets meaning-free beyond the brand name, like that’s what you meant to do.

Of course, there’s the ever-present pressure on budgets, the need to be more efficient, the demand for evidence.

There isn’t the time or the will to sit around debating what your brand means to people, how it gets remembered.

And there’s so much data to analyse, so much content to create.

But why is this happening?

The thing is it’s harder swimming in the deep end.

The people you’re targeting aren’t like you. They have different lives, different needs.

And working out a brand strategy takes energy. Persuading the rest of the business to follow your lead is often exhausting.

Plus being in the shallow end can feel more productive. No need to tread water if you get tired, just put a foot down.

It becomes inevitable, you disconnect.

The problem is so does your brand from the people who matter most. The ones who might buy what you’re selling.

And that disconnection leads to disempowerment. No one takes you seriously, on dark nights not even you.

That’s the problem with shortcuts. They’re actually short-circuits.

So what can you do about it?

First, start outside-in not inside-out. What is going on? Why is that happening? What should we do?

Use AI as a multiplier. For exploration, execution, prototyping. Do the synthesising work yourself. Have your own ideas.

And don’t ignore the ‘laws’ of marketing but challenge the prescribed solutions. Understand as much as you can about how memory actually works, because that’s where brands live.

Above all, remember insight and strategy aren’t meant to be easy. They’re meant to be a struggle. Empowerment takes brain power.

But if you don’t use it, you lose it.