{"id":1755,"date":"2025-12-01T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/01\/use-the-ick-to-create-better-marketing\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T12:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:00:03","slug":"use-the-ick-to-create-better-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/01\/use-the-ick-to-create-better-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Use the Ick to Create Better Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our expert this week has a few hot takes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s one: “Any marketer that says they’ve never felt the ick from marketing isn’t a true marketer. You do feel the ick.”<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

While that doesn’t sound like the best<\/em> lesson to open a marketing newsletter, stay with me. I swear this isn’t a I’m-quitting-my-job-to-work-on-a-goat-farm hail mary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It actually has more to do with foundational marketing than you think.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meet the Master<\/h2>\n

<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Cristina Jerome<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\nCreative Strategist and Founder, <\/span><\/span><\/em>O<\/span>ff Worque<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/h4>\n

Claim to fame: <\/strong>Leading social for Topical’s infamous Faded Eye mask campaign. <\/p>\n

Lesson one: Feel the ick. And use it to create better marketing.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Cristina Jerome has had a whole host of jobs most marketers would kill for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She’s worked on content and social strategy for Jada Pinkett Smith’s show Red Table Talk<\/em>, plus Issa Rae’s Rap Sh!t<\/em> on HBOMax. She directed social content at Topicals, Sephora’s fastest growing Black-owned skincare brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She’s also dabbled in marketing for Adidas and Lobos 1707, a luxury tequila brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, most recently, she launched her own non-profit social club, Off Worque<\/span><\/a>, which emphasizes mental health and work-life balance.<\/p>\n

Phew. I’m exhausted just typing that up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So my first question to Jerome was an easy one: How did building her own brand shift her approach to marketing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“It didn’t change logically,” she told me. “It changed spiritually. When you’re working for someone, you’re so pressed on reaching KPIs\u2026 with Off Worque, it’s more organic, nurturing, emotional.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

She still has KPIs, but they\u2019re rooted in storytelling and community, not just conversions.<\/p>\n

“The strategy is not ‘do this to get these people.’ It’s me sharing my own personal story, and giving the mic to other people to share [theirs].”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jerome\u2019s<\/strong> proudest takeaway? The work doesn\u2019t feel as \u201cicky” because it’s centered on well-being, not just selling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019re in SaaS or skincare, the lesson holds: If your marketing feels meaningless (or icky), it might be time to reconnect with the story behind the numbers.<\/p>\n

If you feel inspired by what you’re saying, other people will, too.<\/p>\n

Lesson two: Treat real customers like influencers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

“I don’t need to see another influencer on a boat,<\/strong>” Jerome told me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which, you know. Amen, sister.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Who does she want to see instead? Someone like Kathy, who hasn’t had a break in three years and wants to FaceTime her kids to show them the lip gloss she’s bringing home to them.<\/p>\n

Jerome predicts the next level of community and brand-building will revolve around brands that take real<\/em> customers on trips.<\/p>\n

“Influencing\u2026 is becoming unrelatable,”<\/strong> Jerome told me, adding that she’d much prefer to see brands rewarding real customers because “it shows you that the brand actually hears you, and you’re not just order #564 to them.”<\/p>\n

Sure, we might not all have the marketing budget to take our devoted customers on yacht excursions. But it’s worth assessing your current budget allotment and questioning whether you can spend a little more of it on loyal customers, versus sinking thousands into another sponsored LinkedIn post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maybe that means sending surprise freebies or thoughtful swag. It\u2019s not a luxury cruise \u2014 but recognition goes a long way.<\/p>\n

Lesson three: If you’re going to do culture-first marketing, root it in a genuine backstory.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Jerome defines culture-first marketing as marketing rooted in authenticity and genuine cultural connection\u2026 not surface-level inclusivity.<\/p>\n

In fact, she thinks inclusive marketing is a bit of a myth.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think inclusive marketing is a thing,” Jerome told me, pointing to brands like Skims that appear inclusive but really cater to a particular aesthetic and lifestyle. Many brands mistake broad targeting for inclusivity when they’re actually appealing to a specific consumer without acknowledging it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In contrast, truly culture-first brands like Nike or Topicals are built around stories and experiences that resonate deeply with a defined cultural group \u2014 whether athletes or people with real skin conditions.<\/p>\n

“You can’t have culture-first marketing without a founder or brand story that aligns with the culture you’re trying to speak to,” Jerome explains. “Without that alignment, the marketing feels performative.”<\/p>\n

If you don’t have a founder who aligns with the culture, Jerome recommends building relationships with ambassadors from that community \u2014 and letting those partnerships inform your strategy and storytelling.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our expert this week has a few hot takes.\u00a0 Here’s one: “Any marketer that says […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internship.infoskaters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Fun fact: <\/strong>She<\/span>\u00a0was the voiceover for the Topical’s brand campaign video<\/a>. <\/p>\n