Get Real.
Why Brand Stewardship Isn’t Optional
Pop quiz: what do you get when you combine a lazy marketing team, a clueless marketing director, and an out-of-touch brand that only cares about the bottom line?
You get the marketing graveyard.
It's a dismal place where strategy is replaced by bullet points and emojis, creativity is stifled by endless committee approvals, and innovation dies a quiet death in the spreadsheets.
You get a team whose entire job is to push out disposable content, not to push boundaries. Their day is a repetitive loop: copying the exact same email template their competitor used last week, scheduling two meaningless social posts, and then generating a "report" full of vanity metrics to justify their existence. The "clueless director" ensures this cycle remains unbroken, because their success is measured not by growth, but by stability—namely, the stability of their comfortable salary. They mistake activity for achievement and confuse budget allocation with business strategy.
Most tragically, you get an organization that has reduced its customers to rows in a database. They aren't solving problems or inspiring loyalty; they're just treating people as wallets to be opened. The only bottom line that matters is the one right now, which is why they will forever chase short-term sales spikes while the long-term, sustainable engine of a genuinely loved brand slowly seizes up…geez, as I write this, I’m starting to wonder if I’m talking about bad marketing or drug addicts, but I digress.
This is not creative brand building or compelling marketing. It’s the brand apocalypse…and it’s happening right before your eyes.
And guess what — your competition is watching.
Oh, and let’s not forget about your customer base (shocker, they actually matter too) — they’re a savvy bunch who now more than ever expect an authentic, evolving experience they can actually connect with. The truth is, brands that stay ahead aren't just "setting it and forgetting it"; they are continually evaluating, tweaking, and fine-tuning their strategy with the rigor of a financial audit.
The executive mandate for a creative or marketing director isn't merely to manage campaigns or a handful of people creating assets for those endeavors; it’s to serve as the chief brand steward—the single point of accountability who can create abstract solutions for the brand's integrity, consistency, and long-term equity.
Brand Advocacy: The Ultimate KPI
Inside the walls of your business, everyone is (mostly…maybe…hopefully…) aligned. But outside those walls, you’ve got potential customers who are waiting, patiently, for a reason to choose you. The problem is, they don’t really know you, or, for that matter, trust you. And, until you give them a reason, they definitely don’t care about the brand or products you’re selling. So, with that in mind, I want to pose a serious question: What have you done to deliver an authentic experience, from start to finish, that not only converts sales but helps to create real brand advocates, with any semblance of loyalty? I’m not talking some B.S. sales campaign, the number of likes on your latest social post, or the year-over-year growth metric…I mean a marketing approach that builds lasting relationships with the people you actually want to connect with, the people who will not just buy the product, but tell two or three friends about their experience.
If you’re trying your damnedest to think back and find something, or saying to yourself, campaigns like that don’t exist anymore, well, guess what…you may be part of the problem.
In our current digital, algorithmic dystopia, a lot of brands have forgotten that good old-fashioned word of mouth remains the most powerful tool for generating advocacy, and it’s rooted directly in how a customer views your brand. Without meaningful messaging—the kind that connects, inspires, and communicates specific, unique details—you leave the narrative open to ambiguous interpretation. Advocacy matters. Potential customers trust a product that others have vouched for, and the only way to foster that is by being proactive. This means combining an outstanding product with an educated customer, leaving nothing to question. It is the ultimate metric of brand success.
Case Study: Closing the Funnel in Minutes, Not Months
Here’s a great example of what I’m talking about. A brand I work for, one of the largest adventure van aftermarket accessory makers in the world, recently launched an expensive new shock for a niche market of van owners. This is a highly complex piece of engineering and something that isn’t available to buy in retail stores or on Amazon.
Potential buyers are an informed and budget-conscious bunch. They’re finicky, they know what they want, and are pragmatic in their approach towards getting it. To successfully market this product, we needed to do something that, at least in the automotive aftermarket world, hadn’t really been done before. We needed a way to take the customer from the top of the sales funnel to POS as quickly as possible, while in the process, answering basically every technical question, performance concern, and reason to believe they might have. We needed to ensure that the sales process didn’t take months or weeks, but was narrowed down to hours or minutes. How’d we do it? Glad you asked…
The first step was to shoot a podcast-style, long-form video with the lead product engineer. We had him sit down with the sales director, who, over the course of a half-hour conversation, asked him every question a customer might have, from the R&D process to the features and benefits. This video established trust by answering any potential questions the buyer might have, before they had a reason to ask them. Next, we created a social ad campaign that skirted the traditional “buy now” CTA and instead focused on messaging that encouraged potential buyers to “learn more.” This was a thoughtful choice to ensure we weren’t focused on driving a hard sell. From the ad, they are taken to a lifestyle-themed article where we connected with them by showcasing that we understood who they are and that this specific product was made for them. The article, of course, had the long-form video embedded, so a deep dive was provided and encouraged. Finally, we developed an email campaign which focused on generating excitement—not just showcasing and selling.
Individually, these assets would have all worked fine, but together, a product-specific campaign was built that spoke to a small and informed audience in a way that mattered to them.
The results? Over $100k in week one sales, incredible engagement numbers across every platform, and an army of informed brand advocates who are sincerely, and vocally, excited about the new gear they’d ordered.
The Brutal Clarity of Owning Your Niche
While it’s impossible to market most products as something for everyone, you absolutely must commit to building a brand that connects with those who truly need and value your products or services. Owning your niche begins with providing reliable, engaging content, cultivating trust, and remaining fundamentally true to your brand's mission. Fine-tuning and sharing your unique brand story is the most effective way of reaching customers who want exactly what you have to offer, successfully growing and owning your corner of the market.
My personal philosophy—forged as a Marine Corps veteran, refined at a top-tier design school, and hardened by more than a decade of real-world experience—is rooted in Integrity, hard work, and relentless focus.
Speaking of integrity, never underestimate the lasting relationship you'll forge with your clients through honesty, humility, and great storytelling.
It's important to remember that everything is a potential touchpoint: your brand photos, videos, website layout, and monthly newsletter. All of these elements have the potential to establish an authentic, meaningful relationship between your brand and your customers, but only when executed honestly and with a steadfast focus on, you guessed it, integrity. While simply pushing products, sales, and services might be effective in the short term, the executive focus must be on building and committing to a sustainable, honest, well-planned strategy that connects with your customers for the long haul.
With stiff competition and demanding customers, not a single detail of your strategy can be overlooked. Every element must come together to build a unified ecosystem of creative touchpoints required to drive sales and grow your brand's reputation. This means cohesive photos, videos, websites, newsletters, and articles must assemble to form a strong, singular foundation. The executive leadership role is about setting that vision and executing it…at times, with military precision. Learning and evolving alongside the changing market is critical, but it must be balanced by a relentless commitment to brand consistency.
Everything matters in marketing, so nurturing your strategy and taking regular stock of what works for you is the best way to get maximum results and outshine your competitors.
