Have you ever had imposter syndrome about not being the right marketer for a product?

As I’ve dug deeper into what makes a good marketer, I usually find the same layer - to be a good marketer is to deeply understand your customer.

But it didn’t really really resonate with me. I just took it as a command.

Like a cake recipe telling me that I need to crack in eggs one at a time. Gotcha. No questions asked.

What ended up resonating with me more was saying nearly the same thing but in different words. (Have you ever given your friend advice in two different ways and they totally disagree with the first one but wholeheartedly agree with the second?)

For me, being good at marketing is to give a shit about who your people are.

It’s pretty crazy that this felt enlightening at all.

Like no way! We’re not just after their time and money? We’re not just trying to grow our business?

That’s still true…

We just focus on the other side too. How is our audience feeling? How do we position our product in a way that fits within their systems? What is in store for their life even after our product?

Now I sound like a marketer who is planning to pull the business down under.

But I see this as more of a space to consider the purpose and quality of your product. I suppose that’s why I’m more adverse working for a company that doesn’t have the same values as I do.

I honestly thought that looking for value alignment was nearly all humbug. Fluff to be leaning too much into values, because of how confining it can be to work within limitations like time, capacity, and priority.

But giving a shit about the customer reminds me to think about whether or not our values shine through the product.