One of the things that truly irks me about modern marketing is their disconnect with their customers and the job they need done. Rather than knowing why a customer would contact a company and what the customer needs done, we lean too heavily on thinking that everyone is a potential customer, they just don’t know it yet. 

This leads to what we have today. Interruptions around every corner, upselling on every page, perpetual UI and UX changes that only satisfy the sales team, not the customer. 

I have been fascinated by the “jobs-to-be-done” framework for sometime and I try to implement it in as much marketing as possible. You don’t invent a product or service and try to find a market. You need to learn what job your customer needs done and provide a compelling solution. Remember your customers want the transaction over as fast as possible so they can move on with the rest of their lives. 

This is a great read about this framework. 

This is an interesting read and for the most part I agree that companies should be emphasizing first-party data and communicating with their customers via email. Just don’t get lost in thinking that customer privacy is bad for your business. If you create good content and provide a compelling product that helps the customer do their job (whatever that “job” is), then not knowing their favorite color, the last 5 sites they viewed, their commute route to work, won’t affect your efforts. In reality those other metrics are weird, creepy, invasive, and just added noise.

It is easy to look back and think, “I should have done X” or “I wish I would have done Y earlier.” But, everything that has happened in your life and everything you have done is what brought you to this moment. It would not be possible without what you have done in the past - good or bad, profitable or expensive - and the experiences you gained along the way. 

Remember that the right time to do something is today. We all often look into the past and use it as a way to procrastinate what we actually want. We get this feeling that we missed our opportunity and now it is too late. It is never too late. Start today. All your past experiences have led you to this point. I give you permission. Go do it and don’t look back. The only path is forward. 

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