Who am I?
Ironically, most marketers are bad at marketing themselves. I’m no different in that department. So rather than try and sell you who I am, I’ll just tell you a bit about my story.
Have you ever had someone give you feedback which at the time didn’t really sink in the way it does now? I’m sure you have. One of those pieces of feedback took nearly a decade to make sense to me, but it’s underpinned my work ethic for my entire career without me realising it.
Here’s that feedback:
When I was in high school, my legal studies teacher, wrote in my final grade that:
‘Luke is always able to find a way to complete the set task with the least amount of work possible.’
I did well in his class, but 16 year old me took offence to that comment because I knew he had a very dry sense of humour and I thought that was his way of calling me lazy.
When I went to uni and studied advertising in marketing I found a loophole which helped me, in part, graduate with a distinction.
Most classes in my course were graded primarily on one major essay and one major exam. We were told that you had to choose a different topic for your exam to the one you did for your essay and would be penalised if you didn’t. The reality was I was in a class of hundreds and there was no way they’d pick up that my essay (that I wrote many weeks before) was the same topic as my exam. So I focused all my efforts on nailing one topic.
Now some of you are probably reading this thinking my legal studies teacher was right and I’m actually just lazy or that I needlessly cut corners. That’s not the case, but here’s how the way that I work is good for your business.
Quantify the value you add
Throughout my career I’ve realised most marketers aren’t commercial enough to realise their role is to generate revenue, profit or drive business performance. I’ve worked on consumer goods, not for profit, beauty, healthcare, wellbeing, logistics, industrial products, professional services, tech and finance. And in all those industries most marketing departments are treated as a sunk cost and would bankrupt themselves within months if they had to stand alone as a business.
I’ve made it my mission as a marketer to quantify the value I add. I can see what works and what doesn’t and I can use that approach to help you to save time and money.
It’s helped me realise two things:
Marketing works. It’s a process and should be deployed scientifically for the best results, and
Most businesses start with the best of intentions, but because they don’t know what works they try to do too many ‘marketing’ things, end up doing them poorly because they lack focus and then they think marketing doesn’t work.
Seeing the theme here?
Pragmatically lazy
Because most businesses don’t know where to start with marketing, they try and do everything, lack focus, then underperform. I’ve described myself to my peers as pragmatically lazy for years. I work smart, then hard - Not the other way around. And I want to work with you to:
Make the complex simple - for you and your customers
Focus on what actually needs doing - not necessarily what’s going to give you the most immediate gratification
Do fewer things really well - rather than trying to do multiple things to a lower standard.
Why the name On Your Six?
I’ve never served my country in the armed forces. My Great Grandfather died in Sydney Harbour in WW2, my Pop served in the Royal Australian Navy and because of that, I’ve always had an interest in military history. I’ve spent ANZAC Day in Gallipoli, walked the Kokoda Trail and have a huge amount of admiration and respect for those who’ve served and those who never returned.
On Your Six literally means ‘I’ve got your back’ (your 6 o’clock if facing forward is 12 o'clock). It comes from the stories I’ve heard, read and watched. It’s the sense of security and support I hope I can offer you. Knowing that you have me in your corner and I have your back, to help you do whatever needs to get done for your business.