A (Marine) Corps of Marketers

On November 10, 1775, the 2nd Continental Congress authorized the creation of two battalions of Marines. Captain Samuel Nicholas was commissioned the first commandant of of this newly founded Marine Corps, and he tasked Robert Mullen with recruiting. As a backdrop for this tale, the colonies were on the brink of rebellion against a country that had the greatest military force in the world at the time. By contrast, the colonists were poorly equipped, poorly trained, and poorly disciplined.

In what is, I think, an underappreciated act of pragmatic marketing genius, Mullen did not go to the homes of the colonists to shame them into enlisting. Knowing the stakes and understanding the audience, he went where you might expect to find and be able to persuade a few good poorly equipped, poorly trained, and poorly disciplined men to populate the ranks of this new Marine Corps in order to possibly fight the greatest military force in the world.

A bar. Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Of course, Mullen was already familiar with the sort of people who would be at the tavern, for he was it's proprietor; he already had credibility with its patrons.

Through the years, the Marine Corps has had its ups and downs, but since the commissioning of its 13th Commandant, LtGen John A. Lejeune in 1920, the organization has had an uncanny knack for marketing that I think we can all take lessons from.

The Corps knows that its best recruiters are Marines themselves, which is why they've resisted calls to use civilians for the purpose. Marines are the best marketers because they are proud to be Marines. Unlike the other services that promise job training and money for a college education, the Marine Corps creates a convincing mystique by making the Marine Corps something only a select few would want to become a part of, but something other people can't help but admire.

In the Marine Corps, recruits are promised to be yelled at, they are forced to go on 15-25 mile marches carrying 60-lb packs and otherwise put their bodies through the rigors usually reserved for work animals, they put themselves in harms' way for causes they may not even believe in, and they volunteer and are committed to their cause because of who they believe they will become when they are able to be associated with other people who have done the same thing.

How many of your employees are as committed to your organization and its goals as Marines are committed to theirs? If they aren't, find out, and then become something worthwhile from their perspective, not just yours. Only then will you be able to build the sort of brand advocacy your organization needs to -- if you'll excuse the expression -- blow the competition away.

I would like to take this opportunity to salute the Marine Corps on its 231st birthday.

Semper Fidelis, Marines, and thank you.

- Cam Beck