This was a question from a student in my Strategic & IMC Planning course. The story is that senior colleagues at their company gave feedback and advised them to have a 'business mindset' to do well, but they didn't explain how to get it 😅
During the recent holidays, I gathered my thoughts to share what I do to improve my business mindset, and I welcome everyone's contributions in the comments section:
1. UNDERSTAND THE MARKETING TEAM'S REAL CLIENT
I often ask my students this question at the beginning of the course, and almost all of them answer that the Marketing department's client is the consumer/end-user. Before you get there, there's a more important client to serve, which a friend named M enlightened me to during a lunch 6–7 years ago: "Marketing's client is Sales." (After that, I even told my staff to write that in their school essays, and the teacher complimented them and gave them a 9/10 😂)
Simply put, whatever Marketing does is successful as long as Sales can use what Marketing created to sell the product. What does this mean for agency people? Whatever I plan and propose, I think about whether Sales can use that message to make their selling process easier, not just whether the idea is cool. Thinking that far means you've gained a bit of a business mindset.
2. READ FEWER CASE STUDIES AND SPEND MORE TIME WITH BUSINESS OWNERS
This might be controversial, but for me, reading case studies only helps you understand someone else's carefully polished and condensed thought process. The part everyone cares about when reading a case study is the Creative part; the sections on business problems or industry insights are almost non-existent. I still think case studies are valuable for referencing execution possibilities and are a source of inspiration that makes us love the industry, but they don't help improve the business mindset.
As an agency, we only handle one 'P' in the 4Ps: Promotion; we know nothing about Product, Price, or Place, unlike the client. So, if possible, talk to friends on the client side, or even better, talk to business owners. The lesson you'll learn is that advertising and media are important, but they're not as life-or-death important as we think 🥹
3. KNOW WHEN TO LOG OUT OF 'INDUSTRY MODE'
When I first started at an agency, I viewed everything from an advertising perspective, just like when I first learned about MBTI or numerology and saw them in everything. I once felt that being in advertising made me superior to others because I was exposed to more information, different lifestyles, and various problems from different clients... until I realized I was deliberately ignoring life as it truly is and creating an ideal life in my head from an advertising perspective. To me, this is the most important thing, but it's too personal an experience to write clearly about; those who understand, understand :)) (fun fact: after I completely left my full-time agency job, I became a much better planner, but I'm not advocating that you quit before you're ready).
Just a little sharing. I wish you all a return to selling yourselves to capitalism and hitting your deadlines in mindfulness 😅
