🏔️ Avoid Everything That Doesn’t Move You Forward

Hi friend,

Lance here. Today I’m talking marketing and football… Oh yeah baby!

A few weeks ago my wife and I went to the Detroit Lions Monday night game. The energy was unreal. Ford Field was shaking. Before the game, I stopped to take a photo in front of the new Barry Sanders statue.

Barry was my hero growing up. Not just because he was electric with the ball, but because of how he ran. His whole job was simple: don’t get tackled.

He didn’t run in a straight line. He juked, pivoted, stopped, started, and made defenders miss by inches or what felt like miles sometimes.

He avoided everything that didn’t move him toward the end zone.

Confession: I’ve spent a lot of time on “marketing” activities that didn’t get me closer to marketing end zone.

Example: Hours trying to make AI do the work for me instead of just doing the work. The tools are helpful, but sometimes they become what gets in the way.

I forget the goal isn’t to “use AI,” it’s to score.

🚨 The Problem

Marketers are surrounded by shiny objects: new tools, trends, frameworks, hacks.

Every week there’s a new “AI for X” that promises to make everything easier.

But what if it’s just another defender keeping you from the end zone?

The hard part of marketing isn’t knowing what to do. It’s having the focus to keep running the right direction and not get tackled by distractions.

🏃 Activity

Your activities from wannabe football coach, Lance:

1. Define your real end zone.

   Pick one metric that actually matters this quarter; qualified leads, conversions, organic traffic growth, customer retention, etc. Write it down and post it where your team can see it.

2. Identify your distractors/defense

   List the things that keep you from that goal. Especially the things that you think are actually helping you: over-optimizing prompts, new tool rabbit holes, meetings about meetings, or “research” that turns into LinkedIn scrolling.

3. Juke intentionally.

   Build a weekly “focus sprint.” Block time to do one high-impact marketing action; write, optimize, publish, or promote. No tools, no distractions, just you moving the ball forward. I do it on Mondays for this very email. Right after my 3rd cup of coffee.

📝 Output

• A simplified, focused marketing workflow that prioritizes progress over productivity theater.
• You’ll start shipping meaningful work again. The kind that builds trust, drives organic growth, and compounds over time.

📈 Outcome

• Clarity.
• Momentum.
• A sense of control over your craft again.

Like Barry, you’ll find your rhythm cutting through noise, dodging distractions, and staying on your feet until you reach the end zone.

Bonus!

If you’ve made it this far, here’s a little treat for you. This is me wearing Barry’s jersey for Halloween some 30+ years ago.

Want a Marketing Coach + Team to help you reach the end zone more often?

Let’s chat to see if you’d be a good fit for working with Avalanche, where we take ownership of your website’s performance and build the trust signals that make you the clear choice where your customers search.