Optimism: The Marketer’s Greatest Asset

John W Hayes

I had a bad day last Wednesday. Everything I touched seemed to go wrong. You name it: From creative blocks to technology meltdowns, I seemed to struggle with absolutely everything. The day just seemed to go from bad to worse, culminating in a less–than–stellar webinar performance when my audio went down twice (really shaking my confidence and flow). I went to bed on Wednesday night doubting everything I know about my professional life. You see, even us seasoned marketers (and I’ve been in the game a long time now) have bad days.

A New Day

I had a great day on Thursday. I shook off the previous day’s (figurative) hangover with a longer–than–usual cycle commute. I took the time to put everything into perspective and give myself a good pep talk. I then set about re-recording my webinar (there is very little you cannot fix in marketing), sent a really successful email marketing campaign promoting my latest eBook (resulting in more than 100 downloads), spoke with a couple of bloggers and secured some incredible PR, engaged with some incredible clients via email and social media, and finally started work on this blog post. You see, one bad day is not enough to set me back for too long.

Reasons to Be Cheerful – 1, 2, 3

Forget technology, budget, available resources, etc. – I truly believe that optimism is the marketer’s greatest asset. Without optimism, your career in marketing will not be a happy one. Here are three reasons why I believe it is vital to employ a little optimism in your approach to marketing.

1. Optimism helps us find success when campaigns initially don’t quite go according to plan. It enables us to take a look at results, learn from failings and test (and re-test) new strategies that will eventually reward us. Pessimistic marketers don’t learn from failure; they dwell on failure, and it drags them down.
   
2. Optimism draws people toward It’s amazing how a little positive energy can help bring a team together. And remember, people buy from people they like. Even with the best will in the world, it’s hard to work with a pessimist. Misery might love company, but nobody wants to be its friend.
   
3. Optimism is a vital component in creative marketing. While we might all love the occasional sad song, nobody wants to buy a sad product based on a sad marketing campaign. Your clients can see through a forced smile, so learn to be a little more positive about everything you do, and you’ll find your optimism becomes infectious.

Are you feeling a little down? Pessimism got you in a bad place? Well, chin up, it’s the weekend. Let’s see you on Monday with a smile on your face and an attitude that rocks your future success in marketing.

Here’s to optimism.

This abridged post first appeared on the iContact Email Marketing Blog. 

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