Lenore Godin's son

[Intentionally posted on a day that's not Mother's Day].

My mom always disliked Mother's Day. She had a few good reasons.

First, she pointed out that anytime you do something because you're supposed to, or because everyone else is doing it, it's not worth as much. Flowers the week before or a nice poem the day after were priceless compared to the trudge to the restaurant on the appointed day.

I think this is true of all marketing. Nice words to a customer the day they say they're quitting, or to an employee during an annual review aren't worth much at all, imho.

Second, she didn't understand why it was necessary to commercialize something that worked even better when it was free. Just because you can market something for a profit doesn't mean you should.

As for me, I'm amazed at all the folks who would talk about the lessons they learned from their mom and would act that way, at least for a few hours... but then would spend the rest of the year as if they'd been raised by wolves.

At the CMA conference yesterday, someone asked me about marketing ethics. I said that marketers have to act as if their mom is watching... because even if she isn't, someone else is.

Every day (except for maybe Mother's Day), I try to act like my mom's son. I'm not as good at it as I'd like to be, but it's worth the effort. I miss you, mom.