Look, let’s face it, our industry can have a bad reputation.

And I can see why. Just scroll through YouTube or social media and you’ll see self-appointed gurus shouting about tricks and hacks and shortcuts.

But sustainably successful marketing is not about shortcuts, it’s about digging into the very essence of what it means to be a human being.

Sounds pompous, I know, but hear me out.

Effective marketing deeply understands and portrays human realities, behaviors, and emotions. It connects authentically with people's experiences, desires, and needs.

So when I read this lesson in a podcast guest application – ‘marketing is often about showcasing human truths’ – I knew I had found a kindred spirit I wanted to sit down with and learn from Karuna Rawal, CMO and CRO, Nature’s Fynd [https://www.naturesfynd.com/].

Nature’s Fynd has raised $500 million in funding since its founding in 2012. Backers include celebrity investors like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Al Gore, and Jack Ma; along with institutional investors like SoftBank and Blackstone.

Rawal leads a team of 17 across Marketing, Sales, PR, Innovation, Culinary, Business Development and Creative – plus three agencies. Startups run fast and lean, she says.

Here are some lessons from Rawal that emerged in our discussion:

• Marketing is often about showcasing human truths
• Where there’s a will, there’s a way
• Marketing matters, even for legacy brands
• Set a high bar for quality customer experiences
• Always choose to do the harder right thing than the easy wrong thing 
• Align strategy with creativity

Discussed in this episode

Craft an AI strategy that resonates with your customers' human truth. Join Flint McGlaughlin and the MeclabsAI team for an AI Quick Win Intensive [https://intensives.meclabsai.com/] (from MarketingSherpa’s parent organization).

Marketing: It’s not about you, and when you make it about you, you are never going to succeed (podcast episode #53) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-not-about-you]

Content and Communications: Tenacity, keep it simple, authenticity works (podcast episode #33) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/content]

CMO-CPO Collaboration: Bridge Marketing and Product for collaborative growth (podcast episode #95) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/CMO]

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This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] free digital marketing course.

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