Why “Thinking Human” is the foundation for driving sustained brand growth with Doug Zarkin of Pearle Vision

Welcome to another episode of 3-Minute-Marketing, the world’s #1 podcast for binge-worthy, easy to digest tips and insights from the world’s top growth marketing leaders. Today’s guest is Doug Zarkin, Vice President and CMO at Pearle Vision, a franchise with over 550 locations. Doug has had a really interesting and storied career, including helping to build out Victoria’s Secret in the early days of the company before they were a huge juggernaut. Doug has had a string of victories that weren’t just quick pops but sustained growth. So my question for him was, “How do you build a brand in a sustainable and ongoing way?”. Book a 30 minute call Blog posts are great! But sometimes, it’s just easier to talk it out. Reserve 30 minutes with a strategist and get 30 hours worth of value. Book a call Show notes: * To be a marketer, you have to have a degree of arrogance. Marketing at its core is about tapping into a consumer, understanding what they want and need, and putting out messaging that motivates them to take the action that you want when you want. It’s a bold challenge. * The humility comes from recognizing that in order to lead you must first listen, especially in a product or service that you can’t relate to. * Think human. Marketing is about identifying a target, but that target isn’t a bunch of data points. It’s about understanding the people behind the target. * Be as consistently consistent as possible. It’s challenging to radically change the direction of a brand in one or two years, especially in the current marketplace where there are so many choices and options. * Best laid plans take time. Identify the musts and the needs, then the coulds and the shoulds, then the wants. * Fear of missing out is not a marketing strategy. There are a lot of things you could do and even more things that you want to do, but if you’re not doing a fantastic job with the things you must do and need to do in order to move your brand forward, then you’re not going to get credit from the consumer. * Listen in order to lead, recognize that consumers make emotional decisions before rational choices, and maintain a degree of humanity in everything that you do.