On an organisational level, there's nothing more I’ve hated (and simultaneously loved) than being a part of and/or working with the marketing department. There's only one reason for that: extreme subjectivity.

For the rest of this issue, here are some guidelines so that the message is clear:

Everyone thinks they know marketing because everyone has access to the same content from the same brands on the same platforms all at the same time. However, rarely, does anyone peel the layers to understand how and why something is done. Rarely does anyone run an experiment and methodically tweak their experiments to gauge a change in results.

I read a Hubspot article that the CMO is the one exec that has the highest turnover in a company. Primarily because of an extreme lack of alignment between the marketing efforts and the business goals.

What I’ve noticed from the companies I’ve worked with, is that marketing efforts often are redone and reinvented each time the responsibility switches hands. And what’s most concerning, is the velocity with which the marketing responsibilities are passed on.

So who needs to fix this? The CEO. But how? By following Asad Hashamali’s magical suggestions!

Here are my suggestions for anyone running a marketing department, setting one up for their business or is already a part of one. The point of this guideline is to ensure alignment across all your efforts and make sure you’re seeing the results you want to see.

I’m all for dancing on TikTok, but only if it is going to contribute to your business objective. Your marketing goal/objective has to be directly in line with your business objective. For e.g, your business goal might be to reach $X in revenue by Q2 2025.

Great, but how will you get there? Just like how other departments might create a roadmap to get to that point, marketing too needs that roadmap and plan. If you want to get to $X in revenue,

If the answer is yes, yes and yes, then go ahead and dance on TikTok only if they are on TikTok. But if they’re actually on some sub-reddit, don’t expect your TikTok efforts to bring in the results you need.

For the longest time, I never understood the point of a “marketing campaign”. I didn’t have any formal training in the space and most of what I did was from a content creation perspective. All I knew was the more I say something, the chances of being heard and remembered are higher. Repetition is a sign of consistency. If you’re not consistent with your choice of words and also your message, you won’t make much of a dent. Before I got into performance marketing and growth marketing, I leveraged organic tactics to the max. This meant I posted the same shit in different colors and formats, 10 times before changing the messaging.

Why does this matter? Because you don’t control the platforms and you want to show these beasts you value them. The best way to do that, is by spending as much time there as possible. The total reach and recall you’d get from saying the same thing 10 times is going to be 10x more than saying it once.

This point highlights the one challenge most brands and brand owners face: they’re struggling to show they can add value. As a result, they decide to buy courses, coaches, and/or agencies and often think producing 1 video will solve this problem.

How do you solve this problem of communicating for your brand? Just answer the following:

Not doing this exercise thoroughly is what leads to a waste of time and money, especially if you’re running ads for your brand. You’re wasting resources on a set of words that don’t stick.

If you answer the 3 questions above and focus on clarity over cleverness, you’re more likely to stand out and have long-lasting customers.

This point on communication is so basic and fundamental, yet I’ve seen so many people go in a spiral. Myself included. This same principle applies to something like fundraising or pitching. I saw this diagram below, which is apparently a guide to successful fundraising by Sequoia Capital. And this is when it hit me: clarity is the key to effectively communicating, irrespective of the context.

What I mean by this is to track your results and efforts. Doesn’t matter if something has low numbers, you want that consistent view to be able to track movements. Release 5 posts, 3 videos, 5 reels, 2 podcast episodes and 3 emails on something? Great. Keep at it and assess

And once you’ve done your assessment, go back to the drawing board and figure out what more you need to do for the next leg of content you produce. Hence, documentation feeds execution.

Marketing is more iterative than we think. Unlike other areas of a business where you set it up once and then switch to maintenance mode, with marketing you need to keep poking the fire and make sure it doesn't die out.

I love a good ad or a bold set of words that really get me thinking. I also enjoy sharing cheeky memes on Instagram.

If you think your brand can’t be doing this, you’re totally wrong. I’m not going to get into that today. For now, I will leave you with a thought.

There are 2 sides to the coin, functionality and creativity. Both are great but both also have their time and place. At times, both can occur together. But more often than not, I’ve noticed leaders skip or look down upon functionality thinking that creativity will solve their problems. It all comes down to the numbers. My own business, Alt Academy, has seen this firsthand.

A creative and unexpected reel reached 12k+ accounts organically in 24 hours vs a functional product video which reached 900 people in 4 or 5 days. The result of the creative reel was solid and shut up the naysayers on the team too. However, prior to the reel, the functional product reel was posted along with a line of other functional statics. So what really happened from the creative reel?

“Creativity” is so subjective and also a very delicate topic. Hence, I say radical creativity where you really end up shocking the entire system. Use this radical creativity as a nudge for that extra boost.

Ask a brand manager from some FMCG company why they keep investing in massive billboards for products. The answer will be: its out of fear of being forgotten. Brand awareness can be translated into remembrance. Companies invest millions to make sure you don’t forget them because if they don't, they’re scared you’ll forget them and therefore will never buy from them again.

The only way to make sure this doesn't happen to you is to make sure you keep being seen and heard. If you stop posting or communicating with your customers outside of your service, for weeks or months at a stretch, you might miss out.

Worse, the few people who did follow you and looked forward to being reminded of your existence might just forget you.

These suggestions have so much more detail to unpack. Theres no tactical implementation here, knowingly. Thats because the fundamentals, in my opinion, are not emphasized enough.

Also if you’re a marketing practitioner and have any suggestions, please do share your thoughts. Would love to learn and grow.

Peace