People say the world “moksha” reminds them of “moxie” or “mojo.” My neighbor says he thinks of “milkshake.”  These are all good things, especially for marketers (except, of course, milkshakes – moderation is advised there).

Moksha (pronounced MOKE-shah) is a Sanskrit term that means to liberate, release or free. You can think of it as the Hindu equivalent of the more widely used Buddhist term “Nirvana”.

Alliteration aside, moksha is a great way to frame modern marketing – releasing companies and marketers into their ideal state of growth, while freeing them of all the things getting in their way of success, which these days is a LOT!

Marketers, are being bombarded by incessant sources of distraction, disruption and annoyance: big (and small) data to be analyzed, social media updates as well as nonsense, our executives’ and colleagues’ “input,” better practices to replace our best practices, and shiny new technologies claiming to make our lives easier. It’s gotten a bit crazy.

The success of what we do is now trumped by how we do it. Brand development, lead generation, social media engagement, marketing analytics, influencer relations, event management, marketing strategy – or whatever is tattooed on your forehead as your key function — will only get tougher and/or less effective if we don’t start doing things a bit differently!

Achieving Marketing Moksha isn’t simply about improving or modifying your marketing tactics. It demands a new way of looking at marketing, a new way of organizing, a new mindset, and a new skill set.

It stresses things like agility over process, goals over function, and focus over frenzy. There are several immutable principles for marketers that separate the outstanding from the forgettable and the passionate from the burned out: focus, flexibility, connectedness, simplicity, action-oriented, and equilibrium. The approach focuses on forgotten fundamentals that make marketers more effective, efficient, and sane in today’s “always-on” environment.

These principles are timeless, and perhaps glaringly obvious. But in an era where the context for marketing has been completely turned on its head by digital, social and mobile approaches, the basics have taken a backseat. Bringing them back to the forefront — infusing them into the new tools we have, behaviors we face, and the mandates we’ve taken on — will reinvigorate our work, our audiences, and our results.