The stoic marketer spends their time listening to the universe.
They know there are some things they can control and some things they can’t. They know that focusing on the things they can’t control creates fear and anxiety.
The stoic marketer knows they can control their goals and their values. They spend their time there. They know that living to endlessly level up their online status and material goods is like a thirsty wanderer chasing a mirage of water through the desert — empty and ultimately unsatisfying.
They can’t control what team their rival assembles. They can’t control how hard their rival works or how much they spend. They can’t control how hard their rival researches, prepares, and plans.
They can control the strategy they set. They can control how much they learn, connect, and practice their craft. They can control the relationships they develop with the clients and communities they serve.
The stoic marketer:
- ignores misplaced anonymous feedback and online outrage;
- minimizes negative emotions, but doesn’t stifle them;
- is not afraid to come last, because there’s benefit in the experience of finishing ahead of the billions of people who didn’t bother to try;
- responds to a random insult about their work via no response at all but responds to criticism from a mentor by scheduling a meeting to learn more;
- knows that omitting the research and discovery at the beginning of any marketing mission can lead to highlighting the benefits of keto to a vegan market;
- knows that there can be no long term successful marketing movements without a continuous curiosity about anthropology, psychology, statistics, and demography;
- knows that it’s usually not a marketing mishap that hurts them the most, rather the way in which they respond to it;
- knows the one that has never lost before hasn’t been a marketer for long.
The stoic marketer spends their time listening to the universe because they know that better understanding the people and positions around them is the best way to achieve the goals their clients value most.
And that it’s a reasonable way to contribute to a world that doesn’t always make sense for everyone.
The world needs more stoic marketers.
Sympatheia.
