How Can We Fix a $6 Dollar Haircut?

I heard a saying that I resonate with a lot.

👉 It’s hard to fix a $6 haircut.

As marketers, we often go into situations where the marketing is a hot mess.

It’s either non-existence, half-baked, non-sensical, not well understood, disjointed…

And we have to fix it. We have to fix a $6 haircut.

The reality is, companies often reach out to me when they’re stuck. They are out of ideas, they don’t know what to do, their financial runway is shrinking…

I often say to them, whatever you’ve done to get to this point will most likely not get you to where you want to go. Something has to change.

How much change are you comfortable with?

Then I have to explain and justify and convince and fight, and we end up back in the same cage.

Let’s open the cage. Let’s fly. Let’s take big swings.

Dare to Be Bold

Companies like Liquid Death and Dollar Shave Club didn’t find success by blending in—they achieved it by boldly disrupting the market and solidifying a brand identity that was unapologetically different.

Liquid Death, for example, took something as common as water and turned it into an irreverent, edgy product by marketing it with punk rock aesthetics and a rebellious voice.

Dollar Shave Club did the same by flipping the script on men’s grooming, using humour and direct-to-consumer convenience to undercut the traditional giants in the razor industry.

These companies didn’t just enter the market—they transformed it by defying expectations and offering something completely fresh.

Too often, businesses hesitate to take risks. They may express a desire to innovate and challenge the status quo, only to pull back into their comfort zone when bold ideas come to the table. Fear of failure leads to playing it safe, which ultimately stifles creativity and limits potential. This cautious approach not only prevents companies from standing out but also traps them in a cycle of mediocrity. When businesses clip their own wings, they may avoid short-term risk, but they also lose the opportunity for long-term growth and true differentiation.

The key to sustained success lies in breaking free from this cage of conformity. Companies that are willing to take a big swing, as Liquid Death and Dollar Shave Club did, are the ones that make lasting impressions on their customers. They are willing to push boundaries, embrace bold ideas, and challenge traditional thinking, creating brands that resonate deeply with consumers and create passionate communities.

Ignore the Competition

I’ve spoken to a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs over the past 20 years, and one of the major themes that comes up is they are deterred by competition.

They try to come up with some unique idea that nobody has ever thought of.

This is incredibly difficult, and if you can do it, great, but competition will soon follow. Sure, there can be a first-mover advantage. In the book 48 Immutable Laws of Marketing it states: “It’s better to be first, than it is to be better.”

I hear them say with great enthusiasm, “What if we do XYZ!?”

Then there will be a groan and deflation when they find out that someone has already beat them to that idea. In 99.99% of the cases, you will not be able to avoid competition.

Therefore, why not just pick a lane that you are uniquely skilled at, or extremely passionate about, or have some unfair advantage, and pursue that?

There are many benefits to being a small, agile, underdog in a space dominated by giants. Companies such as Facebook, Google, Slack, Gymshark, Lululemon, White Claw, … none were not first to market.

👉 They took chances that big companies wouldn’t dare take

👉 They could pivot quickly where big companies could not

👉 They saw opportunities in their hunger than big companies missed due to their complacency.