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I know “failure” is the taboo word. No one should mention failure without the fear of actually conjuring it. Coming from a family that said it wasn’t an option makes me know it all too well. We’re brought up and taught to avoid it. To never speak of it. To simply hide it if a trace of it was seen. However, what life taught me when I grew up is that failure is important.
It is part of the path towards success. It is not the villain we’re taught to avoid; failure is more like a rough coach that pushes you towards your goal. That is why when you take a leap with your brand and find yourself stumbling or falling, let me tell you that this is not the end of your brand’s story. It is merely the beginning of something that is much, much bigger.
Failure as a Teacher in Life and Marketing
Failure is something that could be perceived as an unpaid consultant who charges you in lessons instead of a currency. Every project you fail, every failing product launch, every campaign that was timed in failure, or even targeting the wrong audience. These are all lessons on what not to do.
One thing to avoid later when planning for the next launch or strategizing your demographics. If you looked closer, you’d find that a lot of brands never nailed anything from the first trial. Everyone eventually falls; the trick here is did you learn where the pit is to later on avoid it and find your way around it or not? Without the stumbles, the cheer or joy of success wouldn’t be nearly as meaningful.
Why Brands Need to Fail Sometimes
Brands need to understand that failure may often feel like quicksand; however, if they dig deep, they’ll find that the ground may be fertile. Here are some perks that failure may help you with:
- Failure helps you innovate better and think broader. Because when plan A tends to fail, B starts shining.
- It trains you to be resilient enough, and if you have a team, it helps you regroup and learn how to pivot.
- If you created a campaign and it failed, failure here could help you determine or reveal for you what your audience would really want.
- Failure helps you in tolerating the risks. Once you fail and find yourself still surviving with your brand’s name, you won’t hesitate later on to take a bold leap.
- Failure will help you boost your authenticity. Because owning up to a mistake makes a brand relatable and will help your audience respect you.
The Myth of Overnight Success
In marketing (and life) we often hear of success stories of brands that launched and within months became a worldwide name. These stories sound like something of a fantasy rather than reality if you look at them closely. These so-called “fairytales” tend to always leave out the many years of creating failed prototypes. Yes, it is not a general rule.
However, as the title suggests, failure is a contributing factor to success. You kind of have to go through all those sleepless nights. Ones that will prove to you that all the planning (and failing) was actually worth it. Failure, ironically, is usually edited out of success stories. But it’s the very thing that makes those stories possible.
Embracing Failure as a Strategy
If you have a brand and think that failure is not tolerated, well, I’d say that you should rather embrace it. Companies that are thinking strategically create cultures where experiments are encouraged and mistakes are treated as data to learn from and not disasters. Because contrary to popular belief, failure is not the opposite of success.
It is rather a necessary stepping stone on the path towards it. Advice from the marketing wise? The next time you have a campaign that fails or falls flat, don’t place it six feet under. Instead, you should study it and allow it to fuel your next big market break.
