How good marketers are like good poker players

Watch some of the world’s top poker players and you’ll notice two things.

One, they’re very aggressive when they need to be.  They play the blinds, raise often, and take calculated risks with their money.

They also fold.  A lot.

World-class poker players, in this context, aren’t too different from smart marketers.  Both know what success looks like.  Both get creative and aggressive when need be.  Both play a lot of hands.

But if they’re smart, both poker players and marketers get out of the game quickly when it’s clear they’re not going to win.  They get out quickly as soon as they realize (or measure) that the game is lost.

Good marketers and good poker players aren’t afraid to fail.  In fact, they know that failure is a key part of getting to the next game, learning something about what works and what doesn’t, cutting their losses, and being that much smarter for the next hand.

Failure, for both marketers and poker players, makes them smarter. 

As a marketer, are you playing enough hands to know what works?  And are you watching close enough to know which hands to fold?