Like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Sholay, Manichitrathazhu, I can never tire of watching both the Kung Fu Panda movies. (I could add more movies to that list, but some of you will quickly lose respect for me.)
It’s funny; it’s good winning over evil; it has great characters; everything about it is perfect, and on and on. You get the drift.
But every time I watch one of the Po movies, I marvel at how the director worked with a single-line idea, and conveyed it so brilliantly. In the first part, and then, even more stunningly, in the second part.
I can’t wait for January 2016, when the third part comes, just to know the simple idea that will come out of the father-son reunion story.
It’s that KISS principle again: keep it simple, stupid.
There is no secret ingredient. Said the first movie.
Find inner peace. Said the second.
Are there lessons for us there? Let’s see.
Keep it Simple
Our tribe, that of digital marketers, would do well to learn these lessons. We exist in the middle of so much complexity, not just in our trade, but in that our clients’ as well. So it’s very easy for us to go down that complexity whirlpool. Keep it simple.
How? By sticking to the goals. Some months ago, we were in the middle of such a whirlpool.
All of us were paddling like crazy to stay out of the whirlpool. But we kept getting sucked into complexity, inefficiency, and worst of all, some missed deliverables. As we tightened our processes, we realized that some of us had taken our eyes off the goals, and got distracted with the tasks at hand.
So instead of working to, say get more leads, a lot of time was being used in delivering many tasks that had little to do with lead generation. It’s easy enough for that to happen. We work with CEO and Founders, who often give us ad-hoc tasks which may not be related to leads.
So we did the tasks we were asked to do, but we didn’t do the job we were hired to do!
Keep it simple, people.
What are your goals? What will get you there? Now go, do that. Again, and again.
Consistently. Measure if you’re getting there. Make necessary adjustments. Keep doing, measuring, with your eyes on the goal.
“There is no secret ingredient”
Po didn’t think he could possibly be the Dragon Warrior. He was nothing like the Furious Five. Then, he gets trained in Kung Fu. But it’s not till he starts believing that he is the Dragon Warrior, that he becomes it.
Lesson for us marketers from this? Yes, we need to know our tools, techniques, and the latest ‘it’ in the digital marketing world. But really, if we don’t believe in the real value of the product/service we are marketing, we would only be wannabes. It’s only when you believe, that you hit the soul of what the product is all about. So your work becomes the real voice of the product, not about throwing around some fake superlatives. And in this market of noise, the real voice is your only chance to be heard.
“Find inner peace”
Making peace with your past, allows you to be in the present and do what it takes now. This applies to everything, digital marketing and everything else. Most of us spend our lives in the past (sadness, grief, anger) or in the future (worry, anxiety, anticipation), that we tend to miss the now.
And you know where it messes up things? When we are with another person. We are in front of them, but not really, truly, deeply listening. Simply because we have an inner dialog going on, or are unhappy with this person before us. That person is our client, colleague, or supplier (or friend, spouse, parent, kid), someone who is important for our work (or in life).
The least we can do is to be here, now, without baggage, and listen to him/her. And we will hear things we have never heard before.
So what’s next, Po? Can’t wait!
All images are screen grabs from the YouTube channel of DreamWorksTV.