Brian writes about the No Excuses Ethos.

I’m struck by how well this applies to marketing, too. I screw up all the time. I encourage clients to bet big and lose big. Why?

Because you learn either way. If you lose big, you learn big, and your chances of succeeding the next time grow exponentially.

One quick example: We ran a campaign for a client, on a well-known ad network. It was a slam dunk. We couldn’t lose.

The campaign was a hideous, dismal failure.

I paid for the campaign out of pocket. That cost me $2000, sure. But I still have the client, and I gained absolutely invaluable data about marketing on that network.

That data has paid for itself ten times over.

I’m not saying you should make foolish choices. (And I’m not saying I pay for all campaigns that don’t work.) The key is to accept responsibility if something doesn’t work, learn from it, and move on. Knowing what doesn’t work is as important as knowing what does.