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We were recently interviewed for an article in Investor’s Business Daily about employing different tactics in this digital marketing age. It’s extremely difficult to be a marketer right now. The effectiveness of traditional marketing tactics are declining at a rate faster than executives can figure out how to best leverage all of the new media opportunities out there. There’s no end to the amount of reading you can do to bone up on “best practices” and “new paradigms”. If you just practice them more religiously and adopt them more quickly, you would no doubt outpace the competition.

Missing in this conversation is the ultimate killer advantage: do you love what you’re selling? 

Your job is not to be the sanest, most balanced and detached individual in the world. You should be on fire, whatever moves you. Bring all the experience you have to the party, but leave your cynicism at the door–it is a failed attempt to prevent disappointment and only prevents the joy of surprise.

In Seth Godin’s book, The Dip, he describes how a new endeavor– whether it’s a job or learning how to rollerblade–starts with enthusiasm and excitement. But between the beginning and the end of the process, when you’ve achieved your goal, is a dip to power through.

“Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point—really hard, and not much fun at all.

And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you’re in a Dip—a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it’s really a cul-de-sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.”

Loving what you’re selling is the super fuel that impels you through the dip. People who adore what they do will pore over the most tedious spreadsheets, attend snore-worthy meetings, listen to stomach-turning feedback, and keep on barreling through. Godin continues:

“Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt—until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can become number one in your niche, you’ll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security.

Losers, on the other hand, fall into two basic traps. Either they fail to stick out the Dip—they get to the moment of truth and then give up—or they never even find the right Dip to conquer.”

To do marketing @speed, you must eliminate the fear of failure and new ideas, and the fear of an iterative process. Remember, love is the inverse of fear.

It’s so much easier to follow our simple advice, “do something”, when you’re passionate about your work. There’s no dread, fear of failure, or procrastination of difficult tasks.

We love what we do at our agency – and more importantly, we love people who love what they do. So why not “do something” right now. If you’re passionate about your job, company or career, email Mark DiMassimo and tell him all about it.