The business of marketing is an interesting one, always changing while always remaining the same. Tactics have come, gone, and evolved. Once limited to a few mediums — TV, radio, and print — ad agencies flourished by concentrating on the media buy as their primary strategy (and profit center). Today, as media channels have multiplied and specialized, tactics become more viral and interactive, and audiences have become more decentralized and segmented, many marketers and advertisers find themselves in a tailspin trying to stay “relevant.”

Posting YouTube videos, creating interactive games, finding sneezers, hipsters, and more seem to be sending marketers off course. But has anything really changed? How many advertising agencies are actually selling strategic communications compared to those who are just shilling new media?

Marketing isn’t about the media. Marketing is about the message. If marketing were just about media, all brands would thrive equally.

The key to thriving in this day and age comes from knowing who you are, doing what you do best, and crafting a compelling story that defines your difference. Your story is your foundation. It’s what makes you authentic, and what allows others to believe in and identify with your brand. And when the story is good enough, unique enough, and the experience lives up to it, the story gets passed on. You see; good stories are what resonate. They spread themselves sustainably, with little facilitation or force. And when channeled appropriately, they move within their target audiences, motivating action, and taking your brand further, faster.

With all the tactics to choose from, it’s easy to be tempted. Resist. Be deliberate in your every action and interaction. Say no when it doesn’t make sense for your brand. It’s the most important thing you have.

So, as we say time and time again, focus on your brand, its story, its offering, and its audiences. Then, develop an effective communications strategy that supports your foundation, and select only the tactics and channels that build your brand and strengthen its bond, favorably, not fashionably. And when you do that, you’ll find that your story spreads, your momentum builds, and your brand succeeds.