KATHLEEN: Yeah, in fact, I was just listening to a conversation of marketers that I think is really relevant to this conversation that you and I are having, which is that lots of new zealand girls whatsapp number marketers talk about their budget as spend or budget. And, really, what we're talking about is thinking of marketing as an investment, in building out a long-term asset. And, if you're approaching marketing in the traditional way, it really is spend in budget, because it's short-term. It's we will invest in this channel, or not, I shouldn't even say invest. We will spend on this channel.
right? And, that's why we get in this hamster wheel of always having to prove that we're getting these leads, or we're contributing to pipeline in this way. And we're... That's important, but what I'm suggesting is a longer-term perspective, where if you look at marketing as an investment in building a... Your own audience, not having to rely on somebody else's audience like Facebook, or Google, or any other rented platform, LinkedIn. But, if you build your own audience, that really is coming back to you proactively, that is subscribing to your email newsletter, that is coming to your events, that is joining the community you've built.
That is an asset with value that others would be willing to gain access to. That is an asset that investors value. There's a company called Freight Waves, that is a perfect example of this. It is literally in the freight space, which is one of the least sexy industries out there. And, they do provide data to the freight space, but at the same time, they started very early investing in building out a media platform where they have almost like an odd digital publication, and newsletters, and they have events, and they've monetized all of it, and they've developed a huge following, because they filled a niche that nobody else was paying attention to. And, they just got a new round of venture capital and their evaluation was enormous. And, the investors talked about how one reason that they invested and gave it that level of valuation was because they saw the income that was coming in, basically through their media arm, through their marketing, and recognized that as having value in and of itself, apart from the core product the company sells.
