Start small with new ideas and methods in marketing so that you can afford to fail and gain knowledge from the experience and then adjust and try again. Effective marketing formulas are usually developed through a combination of planning and experimentation, not just from planning alone. In marketing, you don't have to feel bad about making mistakes, as long as you recognize what went wrong and take useful lessons.
What can go wrong, will go wrong... And we'll be fine! Try not to be too heaily committed to any single plan or investment. Keep as much flexibility in your marketing as you can. For example, don't buy ads too far in advance even though doing so makes them cheaper, because if sales drop, you don't want to be stuck with the financial commitment to a big ad campaign. Favouring monthly commissions for salespeople and distributors is also wise, because when their pay is variable with your fluctuating sales, you don't have to be entirely right about your sales projections.
Flexibility, cautious optimism and contingency planning gives you the knowledge you need to survive the worst. You'll have the confidence to be a creative, innovative marketer with the courage to grow your business and optimize your marketing. And you can afford to profit from your mistakes.
Don't expect to solve all your company's problems through your marketing. If the the product is flawed from the customer's perspective, the best thing you can do as a marketer is to present the evidence and encourage your company to improve the product.
Marketing can't make a dog win a horse race, so don't let others in your company try to tell you otherwise.
