“UPDATE: Building an anthology ft. marketers, in public.
Last week, I put out a post asking people to tag marketers they look up to.
Why? Because of an itch. Our first anthology taught me a lot about people and processes. More than that, it helped build the muscle to ship something that has various moving parts.
And now that I know how it’s done, the second would be better. Less thinking, more doing.
💎 My plan: Feature the opinion makers (the marketers who love their jobs!). Prompt them to tell me what the world of communications will look like. And what roles we will play.
Since I put the post out, I got a mixed-bag response. I spoke to –
The ex-president and CMO of a leading financial services group
Someone who takes decisions at delivering things fast (if you’ve guessed the brand, DM?)
A decision-maker at a global FMCG brand
Each conversation was a result of either a solid cold email, network effect, or building in public. And so, I’m here again. Doing the third thing.
▪ The questions I was asked –
Why marketers’ anthology?
What role do I play at C4E
Why should they speak to me about this?
What hasn’t been said about marketing yet?
▪ The feedback –
I must lead with the topic of anthology instead of my reasoning.
Re-think the decision of an anthology vs a video podcast.
So, in the next conversation, I will experiment. I will lead with the anthology.
As for anthology vs video, I will park the comment. I want to talk to more people. My hope – to have so many conversations that I’m able to produce valuable content across channels (video, books, etc).
▪ And finally, some things that got reaffirmed for me –
- Enthusiasm goes a long way.
- The ability to hold a good conversation will be 10x more important as time goes by.
- And finally, the fact that the world is a malleable place. Steve said it better.
“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is: Everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.”
This year, I want to internalise this. Try. Experiment. Fail. This is one attempt at that.
▪ FINALLY
My goal – to speak to 15 more people this week. And I need help –
1/ Who can I speak to for the anthology? Warm introductions always help!
2/ What questions should I ask?
3/ I can’t do this alone. If you’ve got a couple of hours to kill and want to help me build this (I have a tiny budget of up to 5K) – write to us?
Your “role” – everything the anthology needs to be a success. If you’re keen, write to Saurabh Garg at sg at c4e dot in. He will shortlist someone for me. Oh, this is also the first task I’m outsourcing to my former “boss”. If you’re curious why, ask about it in your email.”