Yes, that was me growing my own food.

6 Lessons Marketers can learn from Gardening.

Mateo Bornico
Sep 6, 2018 · 5 min read

A few years ago I took a gardening class. The underlying principle was to work with the environment to maximize the results while not hindering the long-term growth.

Looking back at my notes, I started to see similarities between gardening and the kind of marketing Seth Godin often talks about, the one I call “good” Marketing.

As it is in these “Numbered bullet points articles” and to satisfy those that are just going to skim through (because they are perpetually busy!), I’m just going go ahead and list the 6 most important lessons a marketer can learn from gardening.

1) The Sit Spot: Paying Attention, Listening and Understanding

One of the first things we had to do, before even picking up a shovel, was to do a “sit spot”. This exercise is quite simple. Pick a spot in the garden, sit down for minimum 20 minutes, and be quiet. After the first couple of minutes, one would start to notice new plants, insects and even the wildlife that was present. At the end of each Sit Spot, we were asked to make note of everything we noticed.

Marketing Takeaway

Marketing is about communication and interactions. Great communication starts with listening and being curious. Any good marketer should first seek to listen and understand their market, industry and customers. This involves research, most notable, in the form of conversations with stakeholders (both internal and external).

2) Don’t Start without a Plan.

A great garden needs a master plan. This involves figuring out the What, when, where, how and Why. It is important for the gardener to know that the overall goal of the garden will be. Is it to grow food? Is it for beautifying the area?, or Is it for land conservation?

Without knowing the purpose of the garden, a plan cannot be drawn.

Marketing Takeaway

This is equivalent to your organisation’s core purpose. Only once this is clear, one can move on to the actual planning.

3) Do the Groundwork

One of the first things gardeners do before planting their first seedling is to work the soil. If the soil is overcrowded, too compacted, or not fertile, there is little chance of the plants setting roots and thrive.

Marketing Takeaway

In order for your marketing efforts to live and grow, one must understand the “terrain”. In other words, the values, culture and medium of your audience. Doing the groundworks should also include going deep into human psychology and understanding the societal and cultural environment.

Just like plants, marketing efforts need to match the underlying values, and culture you are trying to influence. If these are not aligned, then your efforts are likely to shrivel and die.

4) Understand that not all is under your control

Gardeners know quite well that there are bigger and stronger forces out of their control. Even the most experienced gardener can be hit by an invasive species, pests, bugs, disease or even severe weather. Good gardeners have contingency plans and are always on the lookout for these threats. It accepts these as forces under its control and it does its best to mitigate their effect. They also know when it is time to kill the plant and start over.

Marketing Takeaway: Good Marketing is only part of the success

A marketer can achieve SEO perfection, engaging copy, persuasive landing pages and flawless hit rates. These, however, are not going to ensure the success of your company. Even your best marketing efforts are at the risk of failing. There could be a new competitor, product failures market dips or even a severe weather. It is important to be ready to mitigate these risk and be willing to pull the plug when there is no cure.

5) Striving for perfect results leads to dishonesty

Any experienced gardener has an eye for aesthetics. The garden should seem tidy and plants should be thriving. However, some gardeners, in the quest for perfection, are willing to employ devious tactics to fool the untrained eye. Gardeners are willing to use fake plants, fake grass, buried potted plants or even distracting lighting to make their garden seem alive and thriving.

The irony lies that true garden fanatics can see beyond the symmetrically trimmed hedge and judge a garden by their own virtues.

Marketing takeaway: It’s better to be honest than to be perfect with your customers

We all know the type of marketer that is under pressure to perform is willing to use unethical or deceitful tactics to deliver results. These tactics, like in the gardening example, do have the ability to trick and fool some, but not the true fan (i.e. your most loyal customer). Your true customers and your fans care that you are honest and transparent. Only by sticking true to your values will you be able to attract customers that, not only share these values, but will remain loyal to your brand.

6) Patience — it takes time

Perhaps worse than striving for perfection, is the inability to remain patient. Any good gardener knows that plants, like people, take their time. Persistence care, pruning and nourishing will lead the desired results, but only if one is willing to wait. Certainly, you can mow the lawn and trim the hedge, and this will give you the temporary illusion of success. However, the good gardener understands that much of the work put it today, will only yield results tomorrow.

Marketing Takeaway: Always seek to play the long game.

Managers, C-suites, and shareholders may want to see quick results, and this can certainly be done using quick win tactics (mowing the lawn and trimming the hedges). However, these quick wins are not sustainable. Marketing, in general, should always be done with the company’s long-term in mind.

I hope you found these helpful, whether you are a marketer or working in your garden.

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