I do a lot of training for large companies–mostly executives trying to understand digital marketing. One thing that I notice over and over is how some of them are very willing to sit and listen to me, but are somewhat unwilling to actually try anything. At first, I just thought that it was just that they were older (but still usually younger than me) and they wanted to talk about technology more than to actually experience it. But I think it is more than that.
Digital marketing is like swimming. No matter how many books you read or courses you take, eventually you have to jump into the deep end of the pool. You can read books to learn about swimming, but you won’t develop the skill of swimming. To learn to swim, you have to actually try to swim. You have to be willing to sink a few times before you get it right.
Too many folks are afraid of the water.
To learn digital marketing, you need to be willing to actually try digital marketing. You need to be willing to make mistakes. You need to be willing to sink a few times.
With swimming, it makes sense that it was a little scary. If you don’t have anyone helping you, you could drown. The risks are considerably lower in digital marketing, but you take the same approach. Just as you wouldn’t take a huge risk by learning to swim alone in the ocean, you shouldn’t start digital marketing by spending a huge amount of money on an untested idea.
But you have to try something, even if it is small. If not, you might learn about digital marketing, but you won’t learn the skill of digital marketing.
