Over the past few years or so, our team has worked with a few clients who are new to strategic marketing. Whether it’s developing a brand; resolving their position in a loud landscape; realigning their mission, messaging, values, and whole being; or even reconfiguring a marketing tool, such as a website to serve their audiences better, we’ve had the opportunity to introduce some new strategic concepts to these teams.

It’s easy to forget that some clients are not as familiar with the lingo, process, and unspoken rules of the game. This can cause frustration on both ends because, at times, it seems we’re not speaking the same language. And it’s because we aren’t. And that’s okay. 

The highlight of this, however, is that the two parties almost always walk away with a new lesson, a new skill, a heap of patience, and — if they’re learning closely — respect for one another. 

Working with others who don’t speak the language allows us to develop our approach, adjust our terminology, foster our partnerships, master patience, and appreciate a different viewpoint that expands our thinking. 

At the surface, our job is to shepherd a project through to meet a client’s deadline, goal, or metric. The reality of the matter is that each project that walks through our doors is a lesson. A lesson that strengthens our values and beliefs, and a lesson in understanding the world around us, from the experts that work so hard to leave it a better place. 

And, for that, we appreciate every lesson we’ve met along the way.