As a life-long fan, I had trouble getting to sleep last night after watching the Detroit Lions win and clinch both the North Division crown and #1 seed in the NFC playoffs. When the excitement in my head finally started to settle down, my weird marketing brain started to draw parallels from their great team win to how great marketing teams win for their clients. I finally rolled out of bed at 1:30 am to jot a few notes down so I could write this today. So, here we go!

1. Let Doubters Fuel Your Passion

Don’t let haters bring you down. Instead use their doubt to fire you up and prove them wrong. Nobody thought the injury-depleted Lions defense could stifle Minnesota’s dynamic offense. But they used their desire to prove the critics wrong to put on a defensive show for the ages.

In our business, there are always those who say your ideas won’t work or we’ve never done things that way before. Don’t let that stop you. Yes, evaluate your plan to see if it is the best route to go, but don’t throw it out if you believe it is the right thing to do. Instead, double down and work hard to show everyone your idea will work. Be relentless. Hold on to it like a hungry dog with a bone. Make it happen and show the world (and especially the client who put their faith in you) your worth.

2. Evaluate and Adjust as Needed

Defensive Coordinator, Aaron Glenn, did a masterful job of adjusting the scheme both for the opponent and to best use the talent available to him. As the game unfolded and more players went down with injuries, he evaluated where they were and made the proper adjustments. Your marketing team needs to do that too.

With so many tools available to your marketing team today, especially in the digital realm, you can get a constant stream of data and feedback. For any campaign or long-term marketing plan, you need to review both the results so far and what changes might be occurring in the marketplace. AB testing should also happen. This allows you to make changes on the fly and keep your client’s marketing on track to accomplish their end goals.

3. Mistakes Happen. Fix Them and Move On

The prevailing wisdom before the game was that, in order to win, the Lions offense needed to play mistake-free football. But the normally accurate Jared Goff threw two interceptions. But, as he’s done all season, he didn’t let it get him down and affect his play. Instead, he stepped up his game in the second half and led enough scoring drives to eat up clock and rack up 31 points.

Marketing isn’t an exact science. And, despite the recent emergence of AI, it is still mostly driven by actual human beings. Humans make mistakes. I’ve made them. You have, too. It happens. What can’t happen is for the mistake to drive you and your team into a panicked frenzy. That’s when more mistakes happen. Instead, like Goff, pick yourself back up and move forward. Make the adjustments needed to fix the mistake, but don’t lose sight of your end goal and achieving it.

4. Lean On Your Teammates

When the Lions offense gave up a turnover inside the red zone, they leaned on their defense to get a stop. With Montgomery out with injury, they leaned on Gibbs to pick up the slack. Every part of this win (and all the others) was due to a total team effort, with players and position groups leaning on each other to get that win. Winning in business is a team sport as well.

Everyone on your team has their own strengths and ideas. If you foster a culture of cooperation where everyone’s part is important and ideas can be built on by other team members, you have a winning combination. Achieving your marketing goals isn’t an internal competition. The best results happen when you are all working together, leaning on each other and working towards the same goal.

5. Strong Leadership, Not Dictatorship

Dan Campbell has become America’s Coach. Players love playing for him. Coordinators stayed when they had opportunities to leave last year. His post-game speeches are must-see TV. This isn’t by accident. He has a strong vision about where he wants to go and what needs to be done to get there. But he accomplishes it by empowering his team and team leaders. He asks his players for their opinions and actually listens. He allows his coaches to do their jobs and enact their ideas.

The best leaders of winning marketing teams do the same thing. They have a vision. They make sure everyone knows what it is and what the goals are. But then, they empower their team. They believe in them and trust them to do their jobs. They listen to their ideas and work together to build on them and enact the best version of them. I’ve always been a believer in hiring the right people and then trusting them to do their job, with occasional nudges to keep them moving in the right direction. Great success comes from that.

So, there you have it, a brain dump from my over-excited brain that has been waiting my entire life for this moment. May both the Lions and your marketing team go on to do great things.