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Jan 18
Danica Patrick GoDaddy Ads Reflect the Sad State of Women’s Athletics
It took almost fifteen years to finally figure out that there are men out there who like educated and powerful women. It’s something I still struggle with to this day. What is my role? Am I a future trophy wife or should I be running a marketing firm? Men are often expected to get a job and make money, but as a woman, being too engaged in my career (and risk being a bad parent if I have children) or too engaged in my family (and risk getting divorced and having outdated career skills) seems like a liability either way.
What I do know is that women are not empowered at all if they are merely sexual objects. Women are indeed sexual creatures, but not to the extent that our society portrays them. To be seen as merely an object for men’s jollies is frankly really boring and wasteful of all the talent women have to offer.
That is why I get really irritated with Danica Patrick’s decision to play into GoDaddy’s misogynistic marketing campaign. Here is a women who broke into a man’s sport, something that few women have ever done. She’s actually resented in the Indy car circuit because she has so many endorsements, but has actually only won one race. Indy racing is actually quite difficult as it requires extreme concentration and endurance. GoDaddy could be highlighting her training and story, but instead, they’d rather slap her in a shower with another woman.
Growing up as a tennis player, I admired Steffi Graf more than I did Anna Kournikova or Gabby Sabatini. Why? Because although Steffi wasn’t considered the most gorgeous person, she was a winner, over and over and over again. She won more singles Grand Slams than any other woman in history. Hate them if you want, but the Williams sisters worked their way out of Compton to be two of the most dominant tennis players alive. They will be able to look back and say they left a legacy behind.
On the other hand, will Danica Patrick be able to say this? Or will she say, “I would have won more races had I spent more time training and racing and less earning Bob Parsons money by objectifying myself”. Will she be able to say that she inspired generations of women to pursue careers in male dominated sports and career fields that interest them, or will she perpetuate the stereotype that there are certain things that women “just shouldn’t do”?
Jan 05
Everything I Learned About Marketing I Learned from my Garden
One day I went to Home Depot and found a yellow rose bush for five bucks. Most traditional roses do very poorly in Austin because we don’t get the rain they need and it gets too hot for them. For five bucks though, I couldn’t resist.
I did some research on the variety and figured it would last through the spring, but that I’d have to trim back for summer. No worries. Unlike many roses in the United States that are cross bred for their looks at the expense of their smell, this rose had a sweet aroma that struck you every time you passed by. Worth the risk.
I gave it rose food, plenty of water, and put it in a good spot with just the right amount of sun. And sure enough, I had a huge yellow rose bush that all my neighbors loved. It was every Texan’s dream.
So how does this relate to marketing campaigns?
Preparation is key. Before you plant anything, you want to make sure the soil is the right pH for the plant. You should lay down some compost to enrich the soil. I’ve seen products launched before they were ready and the result is a disaster. You can try to be agile, but if people already have it in their minds that your product sucks, you could be doomed. Or at least, having to work a lot harder than you should have to be.
Some businesses will be doomed from the start if you don’t know where to put them. English roses are beautiful. I’d be an idiot to put English roses in Austin because we get a fraction of the rain they get. I’d really be stupid to put it out in full sun and somewhere far from me where I couldn’t water it easily. Where are you marketing your company? Are you putting it in the right target audience? Putting a company in an inappropriate spot is just wrong, because everyone else in that company is working hard to build the product, and you are squandering it by not putting it out there to the people who want it.
Certain businesses need certain elements to grow. Roses generally need very acidic soil. They generally do best with rose food. Are you supporting your team properly? Do they have the tools and knowledge they need? Do your customers have the information they need to differentiate your product from someone else’s?
Don’t be lazy. If you clip roses back, they grow back stronger. If you water them regularly, you get better results. Having a routine helps you figure out what you’ve done and what you need to do. This could be checking analytics, reading blogs, or sending newsletters.
Plant at the right time, and diversify. Yesterday I ate a salad from the lettuce I’m growing in the side yard. I want to plant zucchini, but you just don’t plant zucchini when its cold. It just doesn’t get what it needs when it needs it and it can’t take the frost. If you have to wait to launch a campaign for the right moment, wait. It could give you exponentially better results.
Don’t grow what you don’t understand. If I moved, you better believe I’d be studying up on my zone before wasting my money on plants. Home Depot makes a fortune off of people who couldn’t tell you the difference between a perennial and an annual. These people pick based on “what is pretty”. If all the bloggers are talking about an industry, don’t just decide you want to do marketing for that company because “it’s shiny”. You could end up with nothing but a pile of dead snapdragons in your yard and a huge balance on your Home Depot card.
Be prepared for the worst. I was out of town and it snowed out of nowhere. My neighbor, who shares the plot with me, didn’t cover my basil and I lost all of it. I should have told him to watch out for it but was not anticipating such wacky weather. Sometimes disaster strikes when you least suspect it. That’s why it’s important to know every objection for why someone would buy your product before you go in. It’s also important to have a strategy if your budget gets cut. Bad things will happen.
Pick and maintain relationships with your partners, affiliates, employees and any alliances wisely. Why is that rose bush dead now? Because I moved out of my ex-boyfriend’s house, and he purposely killed it. The little boys across the street would have no more random roses to deliver to their mother. 
One person can really poison a campaign if they want to.
And most importantly, if you don’t like it or can’t grow to like it, don’t grow it. It doesn’t matter if you have a great spot for a particular type of bush. If you don’t like that bush, don’t grow it. By working for a company whose products you don’t believe in, your campaigns will never be as good as those done for a company you love. Remember that.