Hunting = Marketing
I was asked if there are any parallels I could draw between my hobbies and my job. I thought about it for a while, and suddenly it clicked: I like to hunt and harvest animals for food. Putting yourself in a position to harvest an animal requires an epic amount of preparation. Yet even once in position, you still need to execute the shot or all that preparation will have gone to waste.
I’ve had situations where a client opts out of much of the preparation we recommend, like research or development of a marketing plan, and chooses to jump straight into creative. I’ve also had clients who do the research, but never put it to use. Either way, there’s a real chance they’re not going to achieve their objective and all that time and money is wasted.
An old friend once put it this way: any hunter can walk into the woods with a bow and arrow and stand a 50/50 chance of harvesting a deer. But every little thing he does in preparation, like tuning his equipment, practicing, going into the woods to scout, holding off on drinking that cup of coffee while on stand…every little thing he does to prepare for the moment of truth will increase his odds by 5%. Even if you can only afford to do three little things, you’ve already increased your odds by 30%. In marketing as in hunting, preparation is critical.
