If marketing had a four-letter word, it might be fear.
Whether it’s hesitating to launch a new campaign, shelving a tactic after a single underwhelming result or playing it safe to satisfy the analytics dashboard, fear seeps through in more ways than we care to admit. And it’s not just garden-variety nerves — it’s something deeper. Something that can stall innovation and shrink even the boldest marketer’s playbook.
Look Left founder and principal Bryan Scanlon recently explored this topic with Rick Wootten, CMO of SIMCO Electronics, on the Share of Voice podcast. Rick introduced a term that captures this dynamic: atelephobia. And according to Rick, it’s increasingly common in marketing.
The Shrinking Playbook
“Atelephobia is the fear of making mistakes,” Rick said. “And that fear leads to avoidance. You try something, it doesn’t go the way you hoped, and you never do it again.”
Rick compared this mindset to the way people may avoid activities after a negative experience, like refusing to drive at night after an accident. In marketing, the analogy holds. One underperforming event, and suddenly the entire tactic is blacklisted. Content syndication didn’t move the needle? Never touch it again. A webinar flopped? Scratch that from the budget.
The result is a shrunken strategy with a limited set of “safe” activities that feel comfortable but don’t necessarily drive growth.
Why Marketing Fear Is Growing
Rick points to an increasing marketing obsession with performance.
“There’s so much pressure to measure everything,” he said. “Every activity has to justify itself with results, often in isolation. And that’s just not how effective marketing works.”
Tools like Salesforce reinforce this narrow view by treating each activity — an email, a webinar, a landing page — as its own campaign. But as Rick notes, real campaigns are multifaceted efforts. They include messaging, media, events, content and more. Judging the entire effort by a single tactic’s output misses the bigger picture.
Bringing Experimentation Back
To break the cycle, Rick encourages marketers to build experimentation into everything they do. This is what Bryan refers to as the “plus one” approach.
“Do what you know works,” Rick said. “But add one new thing. Make it small, call it an experiment and learn from it.”
The value in experimentation isn’t just in the wins — it’s in what you learn from the misses. Rick recalled a campaign earlier in his career that initially failed when it targeted community banks. But instead of abandoning the idea altogether, the team realized the problem: Community banks weren’t the buyers — managed service providers were. The insight led to a pivot and, ultimately, success.
Building Trust With Leadership
Getting executive buy-in for these kinds of experiments requires trust, Rick said. That means involving leadership early and often, and not just reporting results at the end.
“Bring them along on the journey,” he said. “Show them the full campaign plan, what you’re trying, what you’re testing, and then report on the results. That’s how you build credibility and give yourself room to try things.”
Over time, that trust gives marketers more freedom to test creative ideas without the fear of being punished for an imperfect outcome.
The Other Kind of Fear
While atelephobia can hold marketers back, Rick also addressed another kind of fear that’s found in messaging, especially in cybersecurity.
“There’s a line between creating awareness and chasing ambulances,” he said. “Fear exists in security marketing because the threats are real. But the goal should be to help people, not scare them into submission.”
The most effective security campaigns, Rick said, meet customers where they are with helpful information and a calm, authoritative voice. They offer guidance, not scare tactics.
Clever Still Works
Another casualty of fear? Creativity.
“In B2B, we get stuck in this cycle of just explaining how things work,” Bryan pointed out on the podcast. “But a little cleverness can go a long way.”
Rick agreed, recalling a radio marketing campaign his team embarked on at a previous company. Despite initial doubts about the medium, the test proved effective and memorable.
“Sometimes you just have to go back and try the thing that didn’t work before,” he said. “Because the market changes. The audience changes. And you might just get a different result.”
Take the Leap
Marketers are at a challenging intersection of shrinking budgets and rising expectations, and fear can lead you down a safer path. But Rick argues that the only way forward is through.
“Never stop trying,” he said. “Even when it’s uncomfortable. Embrace imperfection. That’s how we grow.”
Want more insights on navigating fear and building braver marketing teams? Download the full episode of Share of Voice with Rick Wootten.
