Marketing: First, Make Rice

Recently, when I walked into a local Martins supermarket and asked the sushi chef to tell me something that’s remarkable about sushi, I was amazed at what I found.

He told me that, “inexperienced sushi chefs invest months and even years, doing absolutely nothing but preparing the rice for the head chef.” He then went on to say, “if the rice isn’t correct, then it doesn’t matter what else you do, you will not serve great sushi.”

The small to midsize business articles and writing that I read about marketing assumes that you already know how to make the rice. That you have invested time and energy into planning a marketing strategy, understanding what makes a client ideal for your business, developing a clear point of differentiation so you don't compete on price and communicating that in a clear, concise and compelling fashion.

Too often, we quickly jump ahead to the new thing, the tactical idea of the week, failing to get good enough at the important thing, first.