Growing as a Marketer can be a Queen’s Gambit
Courtesy of Netflix
The Queen’s Gambit is widely known for two reasons.
It’s one of the oldest and most commonly played openings in the game of chess.
It’s a critically- and fan-acclaimed limited run series on Netflix.
Thanks to the soon to be Emmy nominated Netflix show, chess is receiving its geek moment in the sun, wearing heavily applied zinc oxide and a Fruit of the Loom t-shirt in the pool. Time will tell if chess can join billion-dollar nerd industries like comic books and eSports, but the strategy of chess can help as you create your marketing and communications kingdom for 2021.
As explained by Vidya Priya Rao, chess game pieces include a king (the brand you are charged with protecting), and a queen (the agile chief marketing officer who can move in many directions but needs a strategy before taking the leap). The bishops, rooks and knights are the many platforms from which we must choose. All move in unique ways, but all have limits as to how they best move. We all have knights we’d like to forget. And some we can’t remember.
No, the pawns are not your marketing team – and shame on you for thinking it. The pawns are the tools we use including white papers, websites, flyers, well-crafted emails and hand-written thank you notes. Played well, a pawn is of tremendous worth – just like your marketing team. Except for Bert. Can we leave him on furlough?
Knowing the rules and analyzing each move is only part of chess. It’s critical to also know yourself, your strengths and your weaknesses. By making the right moves, you can use your weaknesses to your advantage, luring your opponent into an area of the game where you are strongest.
Chess isn’t one big move. It’s a series of small steps on the way to checkmate. The same is true for your marketing plan. Calculated and tactical small moves can result in big wins.
As each chess player assesses next moves, there are rules - but the best players and marketers don’t necessarily consider the rules. Experience has woven best practices into their every thought and action so they can focus on the end game – results. In chess and business, you must continue to learn. You can trust that your competitors do.
Become a better player by surrounding yourself with the best (that’s what the Russians do). Network with the best, compete with the best, work for the best. Fill your marketing team with individuals who challenge you and who might someday replace you. Chess strategy also allows for the sacrifice of a game piece in order to make a winning move later in the game. Sometimes, you have to give up a pawn to protect the king.
Just like marketing, chess has players, winners, and losers. When you lose, learn from it so that you might win next time.
Chess also has draws. Draws are boring. Bert is boring. Don’t be like Bert.