“We can say that. Sure we can say that.” Oh, I do not like having to utter this phrase in meetings. Because it’s not what you can say, it’s what you should say. I’ve heard so many times ‘we can say that in an ad.’ Or ‘we can write a press release about this.’ Oh, the hubris in that statement. Because we get lulled into false confidence in the four walls of our offices, when we think we can make a payment, and put whatever we want into ads or press releases or on websites. Sure, I guess technically you can. You can write those words down. It’s not illegal. No one will stop you. Media companies and ad networks will glad take your money for that placement. But should you? Because the ultimate decider is the customer. So no matter what you pay to say, no matter what you can say, the customer will decide whether you should say it.  Which is why I loved this lesson from a podcast guest application – ‘Never underestimate the power of your customer.’ It doesn’t matter if you have a fancy title or massive media budget, the customer has far more power than you. I talked to Erika Lovegreen, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, ICUC (https://icuc.social/) (a Dentsu agency), to hear that story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories. ICUC is a Dentsu agency with a team of 450. Dentsu is a public company that reported 1.117 trillion yen in annual revenue in 2022, or about 8.59 billion dollars. Lovegreen managed a team of 30 when she ran the strategy team. Now, she runs marketing for ICUC and overseas a team of six, along with a variety of partners and contractors. Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing Here are some lessons from Lovegreen that emerged in our discussion. Be comfortable stepping into new industries to gain the necessary experienceIf leading a team, value being patient and hiring the right peopleNever underestimate the power of your customerYou need to quickly serve the customer to create a great experienceValue productivity over perfectionPay attention and look for trendsRelated content discussed in this episode MeclabsAI.com Artificial Intelligence Demo: A look at the output from an AI-powered podcast assistant service (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/content-marketing-2/ai-demo/) Value Proposition: Marketing examples for each of the 4 essential levels of value prop (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/value-proposition-4-essential-levels-of-value-prop) Social Media Marketing: Can you compete with your customer’s mom? (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/social-networking-evangelism-community/social-media-marketing-can-you-compete-with-your-customer%E2%80%99s-mom/) Get more episodes This article is distributed through the MarketingSherpa email newsletter (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters). Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one. Apply to be a guest If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application