Marketing is a bit of a conundrum in that it’s not all that hard to do, but it’s quite hard to do well.

I’m a huge fan of the Working Genius model by Pat Lencioni. I’m even certified. Stick with me here. It’s important for marketing.

The W-I-D-G-E-T framework can explain a lot about marketing. The genius (we each have two) do not speak to competency or ability, but instead, they speak to where you get energy. This very affordable assessment will help with hiring, work delegation and who you ask for help.

W-I-D-G-E-T stands for Wonder-Invention-Discernment-Galvanizing-Enablement-Tenacity

Now, don’t just read those and think you know what you are, actually take the assessment.

I literally thought the survey was wrong when I wasn’t a “tenacity” genius. I mean coaches all my life have complimented me on my “tenacity”. But with the Working Genius, think of WIDGET as the phases of work that begin with Wonder and finish with the completed work of Tenacity.

Once I understood that, I understood why I was not a T genius. I do not receive energy from checking off to do’s. Turns out some super weird people do and I LOVE to work with them!

What does this have to do with marketing you ask? I am an Inventor-Galvanizer and if I would have taken that test in college instead of the MBTI, I would have understood my attraction to sales and marketing much younger. I love new ideas (Inventor) and as a Galvanizer, I think you (and everyone else) needs to hear about them. It’s a painful place to be as a third child, but brilliant as a CMO.

Now, if Invention is one of your frustrations — meaning it drains you rather than energizes you — that matters here. We each have two frustrations and two competencies (tasks where we don’t lose or gain energy from doing them).

(Side note: this framework can also do wonders for your marriage. But I digress — back to marketing.)

So if you are trying to think of new marketing ideas and you are not an Inventor, that can lead you to attempt to “discern” what other people do and reuse those ideas. The problem with that is that you are not being very original and guess what really works with marketing?

A well-executed system that offers an original perspective.

Invention is not only necessary, it’s essential. Fear not if Invention is one of your frustrations, you need only borrow it from someone else. They can be on your team, at home, you can hire or you can use AI.

Another option is to try these questions to help you create massive marketing momentum.

1. What is my audience’s biggest pain in the area I’m trying to solve for them? What else? What else?

It’s important to dig deeper on that question (at least three levels) because chances are you’ve answered it, but it’s in the sitting and the thinking on it that the real insight comes.

2. What is an adjacent pain that I could solve for them?

Some examples of this might be for a sales and marketing agency serving accountants, offering them vacation ideas/planning after a busy season. (Adjacent need: time with family after busy season).

3. How can I be authentically myself (owner) while describing my own pain, serving my customers in the process?

This is important because we are not using this content as a therapy session, we are serving them because they are suffering in the same way. That’s building authentic trust. Help them. All of them. Some of them will remember you and become customers.

4. How can I make it easy on them?

What is one feature that has the exact benefit they need? Focus on it. Hone in on it. Overcommunicate it. It might just resonate with the exact person you want to reach at the time they have the pain. It’s also awesome for SEO and moat-building (creating something so specific and valuable that it becomes hard for competitors to replicate).

If you are an Inventor genius, you likely aren’t reading this far because you are already coming up with a million ideas for each of these. For those of you with Invention as a frustration, here’s my advice: find an Inventor and ask them these questions. They will gladly help you, and you’re actually doing them a favor, because it gives them energy to solve these problems!

Happy working, you marketing geniuses!