"We must be the change we wish to see". Said MK Gandhi, and today it seems to be as profound in commerce for the connection age as it is in life.

As we enter a new realm of interconnectivity, the traditional view of increasing your marketing spending (advertising, specifically) as your company grows may just prove to be false. It might however, more closely reflect Gandhi’s observation as you consider the following:

As your brand lives and breathes, you are already a part of the connected economy that makes up the entire fabric of your customers. They are increasingly dissatisfied with positioned messages, have less retention of your "messaged" existence amidst the marketing noise that is growing everyday from discernible voices to a loud unintelligible droning roar. They are always on the lookout for the next, they fear missing out, and they need stories that make for substantial conversations when they run out of topics during the Sunday afternoon get-togethers with those they think they ought to fraternize with as friends. They are in constant "seeking the cool" mode.

Just like high school, you or your brand can’t ever be cool by trying to be. If you are "cool", it is likely because you’ve learned to be in touch with what inherently makes you unique. In the white noise of even the most creative advertising and promotional expenditure, people still seek out "unadvertised" gems. That’s how Google becomes a verb, and the biggest of global brands lose shelf space to "cool" local ones.

So what is this journey for cool, and how can your brand get you some? For starters, it is about being excellent. Excellence is not common simply by it’s own self-discovering process. Excellence creates authentic, truly compelling stories without you having to spend energy making them up. Excellence gathers momentum with others also on the same journey, and it likes company. It requires no promotion, because its very nature attracts. Excellence is a mind shift.

Can you make the shift? The real question might be what is the change you wish to see? Do you want to keep "positioning" a growing audience of savvy customers into your brand's early demise, or do you want to answer a fundamental market need in the most excellent way you can now and into the future? If the answer is the latter, then you’re already on your way. I think Gandhi would be proud…even though you’re just selling stuff :)