7 Marketing Traits I Learned From My Dog

Dixie is an American Eskimo and Long Haired Chihuahua mix that I adopted from a shelter in Northern California 7 years ago. She has been my constant companion and best friend ever since. Through the years, she has taught me some very valuable marketing lessons and I thought I’d share them.

1) Persistence and Flexibility

Dixie is very persistent when it comes to a few things; food, getting out of bed prior to 7:15 am, and letting me know when she is absolutely not ready to go back inside after a walk.

Dixie has her morning routine and if you are not up by 7:15 am on a weekend then she will be the first to walk all over you (don’t worry she is only 17 lbs) and lick you until you get up. She doesn’t quite understand the whole weekend sleeping in concept, she prefers to stick to the Monday through Friday morning routine where she gets fed and walked bright and early in the morning. On that walk, if she doesn’t think it’s long enough she will literally put the brakes on and good luck getting her to walk back into the house!

Persistence is a great leadership trait and a valuable one when it comes to marketing. When creating ads or emails there are often times where the briefs go through a change in concept, copy, and creative multiple times and still are not up to your standards of perfection. It takes persistence, drive, and flexibility to create a successful marketing campaign.

You know why never giving up is important, but you may ask, “why is flexibility important”? If you are in the technology or creative business then you know things are constantly changing. Ideas come and go and thought processes evolve. This requires you to be flexible and change your strategies in response to new ideas. Dixie, although persistent, has shown the ability to also be flexible when coming up with new ways to get what she wants. Her thought processes evolve and she comes up with new ways that will make me say, “Aw you’re so cute!” and hand her a treat. Same end game but a different way to go about getting there. Think of persistence and flexibility as your marketing one two punch. Be persistent enough to get the job done well and flexible enough to do it effectively and efficiently.

2) Team Work

Dixie is no longer the only dog at home and I think she has used that to her advantage. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure she would love to be an only dog who gets all of the attention and treats. However, she has found her silver-lining. She now has the brawn as part of her team. His name is Finn and he is a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix with lots of love, bark, and not much brain. It is always interesting watching them interact with other dogs, animals, and even the front door. She is the scout, the brains, and the agility girl while he is the backup, the brawn, the height and the deep bark intimidation. They are a great team that together, can accomplish ALMOST anything.

Much like Dixie’s story of team work, in Marketing, you rely on your team to help bounce off ideas and to be there for you when you need support. Each team member has different strengths, much like Dixie and Finn showed me, which allows the team to be stronger. Dixie brings the brain and Finn brings the brawn. A good team strongly depends on each members individual creativity and strengths, that when used together, forms a more efficient and effective overall team. What’s that saying? Two heads are better than one? In Marketing, I would have to say that is absolutely true. Learning to channel individual traits into a team effort is a challenging but powerful skill for a marketing team.

3) Learn New Tricks

Over the years I have taught Dixie a few tricks; simple things like, dance, kiss, roll over, sit, down, and shake. She is 8 and still enjoys learning new things. Well, as long as treats are involved! Each new trick gets her a new type of treat or activity. For example, when she learned to roll over she got belly rubs, when she learned to kiss she got peanut butter (it was hysterical to watch, poor girl), and when she learned to dance she got the little pumpkin ducks from Petfood Express.

In Marketing, you always have to keep your ideas fresh and learn “new tricks” to capture the attention of your audience. Although we don’t get belly rubs, peanut butter kongs, or pumpkin ducks as a reward when we discover a new way to engage with our prospects, the reward is the possibility of gaining customers. That is what Marketing is for right? To create visually compelling pieces that speak to prospects, create interest, and make them want to learn more about how we can help them and what our product can do. To successfully do this, we cannot use the same methods repeatedly, we need to constantly learn new tricks.

4) Give It Your All

Dixie gives everything she does 110% and usually with a smile on her face. There are a few whines here and there and perhaps some barking, that sounds more like her frustration that I can’t understand what she is trying to say. Has your dog ever looked right at you and barked in a way that truly sounded like she was trying to have a conversation with you? I don’t mean the kind of bark that comes out when the mail man arrives or someone knocks on your door. Anyway, she gives everything her all and that is something that I believe everyone should do.

Marketing is a creative, technical, fast-paced, customer oriented, research based kind of department. There is a lot of hustle and bustle and things are constantly changing and evolving, it’s what keeps me on my toes! Every campaign, email, event, community conversation, research assignment, and client communication needs the same amount of thought and strategy put behind it. Every piece needs us to give 110% if we want it to be successful. Dixie has taught me that it’s not just giving my all for everything that I do that makes up that 110% but that positive attitude and a smile gives it some extra oomph. Wouldn’t you prefer to work with someone that is positive and has that can-do, I’ll give it my all, attitude?

5) Sometimes You Just Need To Take A Break

One of the most important things I’ve learned from Dixie is to live in the moment and smell the roses. If you ask her, this is probably the hardest thing I learned from her because I just didn't get it. I would be working away on my laptop and she would jump up in the recliner with me and lay directly on top of the laptop just to stare at me with her big brown innocent eyes as if to say, “Hello? Remember me? Pet me, love me, play with me. COME ON!” I would tell her no and put her back on the ground and she would jump right back up, she’s quite persistent! Not only was I dealing with the constant jumping up and down but every time she jumped up something wonky would happen on my screen! An email would accidentally be sent too soon, programs would shut down, gibberish would appear on my screen, you get the point, complete mayhem. She didn’t earn the nickname Miss May(hem) for nothing!

I’ve learned that some of my best ideas come when I am living in the moment. They come with activities like yoga, walking along the ocean, cooking, and playing with Dixie. Taking breaks from work and from strategic thinking is often a great way to cure one’s version of writer’s block. After many distraction attempts from Dixie, I finally learned that breaks are my friend and that I need to make time for them!

6) Think Outside the Box

Dixie is a crafty little dog. She is always an enjoyment to watch because you can almost see her thought process when she is determined to do something and is trying to figure out how she wants to go about doing it. For example, she doesn’t like the toys that you have to push and roll around to get the treats out, yet she wants the treats. And Finn typically runs into a conundrum when he rolls the ball under a chair where he can’t reach. So what do they do? They work together! Dixie waits until the brawn decides to roll the ball and she follows him around and when he gets the ball stuck under a chair she nose nudges it out and gets a few treats along the way. Clever girl!

Sometimes we need to look at the bigger picture and see the many options of getting where we want to go. Think outside the box. There is not one right answer, there are only opportunities and options. Start taking them and see where they lead you. You never know, there may be a treat in store for you!

7) Be Adventurous

Dixie has taught me one final trait that I can correlate to marketing and really any business. She is an adventurous dog who takes calculated risks with the hope that it reaps her great rewards. Granted, sometimes she fails but that does not stop her from coming up with another way to try and get that reward.

In any business there are those that play safe and those that take risks with the hope that it will pan out. I was one of those safe people that took the occasional business risk. Now, I consider myself an adventurous marketer. Take the risk, it’s worth it. If it backfires or fails, then you’ve learned something. Pick yourself up and try again, hopefully with a different approach!

Dixie has helped me to see many things that can help in the business world that I may not have seen, as quickly, if it weren’t for her. Be persistent, flexible, adventurous, a team player, think outside the box, learn new tricks and give it your all but remember to always take a break and smell the roses along the way.

If you pay close enough attention, your dog could have some valuable life advice for you as well! What is your dog trying to teach you?