That’s a mantra I tell myself religiously in marketing. It helps ground me in what is true by asking better questions.

Let’s say we are trying to run an ad in our local paper. Of course, you could start by asking what it should be about, what the design should be, or the headline. But that’s not starting at the roots.

That’s starting halfway up the tree.

The roots are the constants. Like who it’s for, what it’s for, and how you will measure it.

Every piece of marketing will be for someone, with a reason for existing, and a desired outcome you could track through reverse engineering.

You could also go to the roots of how people read papers. Forget all of your assumptions and hypotheses and go to what’s true.

People will likely be holding it in their hands. They may be reading it seconds before giving their kids a ride to school or with a warm cup of coffee on a Sunday morning.

The quickest way to create average marketing is to fail to go to the roots. Forgetting the basics is where marketing breaks.

When we fail to realize how we consume and interact with marketing–on a fundamental level–then we make marketing decisions that aren’t effective.

That’s why I recommend going to the roots before doing any marketing.

How do you ground yourself or gain the context to ensure you make the best marketing decision?

🧠 + ❤️ // JO