Many brands stumble into a few simple but costly mistakes. The first is losing sight of their core strength or offering. The second is hiring marketers who perform typical “marketing things,” following trends blindly. Humans gravitate toward the familiar, but if your brand isn’t growing with your customers, you’ll fall behind. Marketers often replicate others' strategies because it feels safe. However, marketing isn’t a one-size-fits-all. Each brand is unique, and what works for one may not work for another. Going viral might boost one brand but could harm another. A perfect example of personalized strategy comes from John Pietro, former head of marketing for Wendy’s. Up until the late '80s, consumers went to fast food places to buy the "burger". Brands struggled to get consumers to purchase a complete meal. If you went to a McDonald's up until the early 90’s, you might remember this phrase: Would you like fries and a soda with that? While other fast-food chains focused their marketing efforts and budgets on attracting new customers and creating advertising to “teach” the consumer how to purchase a complete meal, John realized a simple but effective solution: the "combo meal". John simply placed three sheets of paper on a Chicago menu board that read: Combo A, Combo B and Combo C. He provided the price for the burger, fries, soda, tax and total. He didn't even give consumers a discount. This simple solution changed how customers behaved. By bundling the burger, fries and soda, John Pietro has effectively sold more fries and sodas than any other human being alive. It wasn’t about marketing campaigns; it was about understanding how humans think and behave. Most marketers would have considered this a “function of sales”. But John understood that marketing isn’t just advertising and running campaigns. Marketing is story telling. John told consumers the story of a combo meal. And people got it! This simplicity is what I apply to my marketing philosophy. For instance, when a brand with products in over 500 retail locations nation-wide for over 30 years, called me to say that sales were down and they wanted my help taking them ecommerce, I asked them: What happened to your 500 retailers? Like many businesses, they had been focused on growth and gaining market share. And while this is good, they hadn’t created a “nurture program” to stay in contact, provide ongoing product trainings and engage their established retailer network. The fix was simple, but one that they had not considered. Marketing isn’t hard if you’re willing to challenge the norm and tailor strategies specifically to your brand. You don’t need another brand’s playbook; you need a strategy that works for you. That’s what I do—help brands create and deploy unique, effective marketing strategies. That is what you should expect from a Fractional CMO. Ready to reimagine your approach? Let's talk.