No Pain, No Gain: Is The Marketing Return Worth The Risk?

By Bruce W. Marcus, Contributing Editor

The great 1930s New York City Mayor LaGuardia used to say, "I don't make many mistakes, but when I make one, it's a beaut."

Are You Feeling Lucky?

Marketing is one of those peculiar art forms in which you don't know you've made a mistake until well after the deed is done. What seemed like a good idea at the time may turn out to be a fiasco. What worked magnificently yesterday may bomb tomorrow. That's the exciting and interesting thing about marketing -- it's loaded with risk. When it works, its rewards are abundant. Unfortunately, marketing is expensive, and when you fail, it's usually an expensive failure.

Risk is inherent in every marketing decision and, most often, the ability to be successfully original is a function of the degree to which you're willing to take risks. Not taking risks means doing the same thing over and over again, regardless of changing circumstances or of the elements involved. It may seem safe, and may even suggest that you're knowledgeable because you can summon up the past. But it doesn't always accomplish what you'd like it to, and it certainly doesn't do much to advance the state of the art.

Of course, if you don't take risks, you don't make mistakes. But it also means, in the competitive arena, that you don't accomplish much. Sometimes, you must assess the potential danger in risking a new marketing idea against the potential value if the idea succeeds.

Want to read more?

1. Access to our library of articles, case studies, and interviews
2. The Rainmaker Report weekly e-mail newsletter
3. A free electronic copy of Master Rainmaking Conversations