Marketing Lessons from Preschoolers?

What Preschoolers Can Teach Us About Marketing

Anyone who's ever spent time with preschoolers in a classroom knows just how amazingly active the place can get. Children at this age are immensely curious about the world around them and work to absorb every bit of information they can. In their learning process, they not only start to understand their own situations, but also gain the tools needed to teach the rest of us some important lessons about marketing and running a business. 

Be willing to try new things
Preschool is all about learning to try new things. Children who love to run around and get messy must learn to sit quietly and listen to a story, too. Children who want nothing more than to curl up on a bean bag chair and listen to book after book also have to learn how to engage in active play and run around. Preschool teachers understand that while we all have our strengths, to make true personal growth we must engage our weaknesses as well.

The same thing applies to your marketing. Perhaps you're great at developing written content. Your difficulty comes with the perpetual conversation that is social media. To have a successful marketing campaign, however, you must do both.

Know when you need help
Preschool age children have a penchant for wanting to do things themselves. Unfortunately, try as they might, there are some things they simply cannot successfully do. When these situations arise, it's important for the teacher to guide the student and help them understand that it's ok to ask for and receive help when they need it.

The same is true in marketing and running a business. Although you might want to do everything yourself, sometimes you're going to need to outsource particular tasks. Outsourcing, when done appropriately, will free you up to concentrate on the projects and tasks that only you can complete well. By prioritizing, you'll be able to move your business forward with confidence.

Learn from mistakes and try again
To preschoolers, the world is just one giant place ready to be explored! It's an exciting time in life. That tree in the schoolyard isn't just a tree -- it's a jungle gym that needs to be scaled. What will happen if I roll down this steep hill really, really fast? This attitude for adventure invites young children to challenge themselves in every way.

Sometimes, however, the children will fall. They'll bang up their knees and shed some tears. But after getting patched up, they tend to be right back out in the middle of the fun. 

Apply a similar philosophy to your business. Victory and success tend to elude those who are cautious and unwilling to take risks. Those who do take risks, however, will sometimes fail. That's ok. When a failure happens, you need to get up, brush yourself off, and be willing to jump right back in the game. You'll need to learn from your mistakes, but don't let past failures make you shy away from trying again and looking for new ways to succeed.

Preschoolers perpetually work to make sense of their world and all that they experience. In their struggles and successes, they have a number of lessons they can teach everyone else about marketing and succeeding in the business world. If you're interested in learning more about starting a marketing campaign, give us a call. We'd be happy to help you get started.