Founder & Director, Three Piece Marketing. Hamish identifies marketing pain points and inherent opportunities in a way that drives growth.
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I initially considered headlining this piece “The Reason Men Are Better Marketers” because I thought that would grab your attention more. Clickbait? Umm, guilty as charged. But let me assure you that marketing is definitely not a waste of time, nor do I think for one second that men are better marketers. I just wanted to grab your attention and felt that would do it. And isn’t the role of marketing to grab attention? Actually, no, that is a fallacy as well. Marketing—good marketing, at the very least—is not just about grabbing attention. It should ensure four things, as described by Avinash Kaushik in his See, Think, Do, Care model:
• Raise the market’s awareness (See).
• Cause them to consider your brand (Think).
• Get them to act and purchase (Do).
• Make them loyal to you (Care).
Generally speaking, I think there are too many shortcuts being taken in marketing—too many outdated arguments and, to some large extent, too many people with set ways of thinking. They are all affecting the way marketing is done. Basically, there are a number of marketing fallacies that need to be debunked, including the following:
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Marketing stops at the sale.
Sadly, many in the industry think marketing is about getting the sale. Like a lot of politicians, they are focused on the now, what they can be measured by today and what will help their careers. They want results that make them look good. So, it is no wonder that many focus on the think and do phases—the phases that lead to a sale.
The thing is they are missing a key point. Repeat customers account for about 8% of the total customer base but up to 40% of revenue. If you lean in and increase the retention of your existing customers by just 1%, the net effect on revenue will be huge. What I am saying is, consider how to improve marketing beyond the sale to make them care.
Marketing is a science.
Fallacy No. 2: that marketing is a science, and everything can be broken into market research, user journey maps and, ultimately, ROI. Not everyone is guilty of this, but those who see marketing as an exact science take away the creativity and authenticity that make brands “them.” In fact, 88% of people have indicated that authentic marketing influences them to choose one brand over another. If you take authenticity away at the expense of science and exacting dollar figures, then you risk alienating customers.
Marketing is an art form.
If marketing is not a science, then the reverse must be true, right? No, not true. I assert that just because marketing is not a science does not mean marketing is an art form only. If marketing was an art form only, it would be a spray-and-pray type of affair. That is, throw enough mud and something will surely stick. Marketing used to be done this way, but it has come a long way. We now use audience profiles, keyword analysis and user behaviors to improve marketing and ensure that we are spending money the right way. Ultimately, marketing is neither all science nor all art form—the truth lies somewhere between.
Every story you tell has to connect to all audiences.
War and Peace, A Tale of Two Cities, To Kill a Mockingbird. All are arguably the best of the best books ever written. Yet each book is very different, each tackles a unique subject and each has its lovers and its haters. That’s right, each piece of communication you write does not have to, nor will it, connect with all your audiences. The marketing world has started to believe its own hype—that each piece has to land with the audience and move the dial. “Content is king,” they cry, but the thing is, I believe that is fundamentally incorrect.
Content is not king. Context is. Think of it this way: If I give you the best white paper ever written on renewable energy, yet your audience comes to you for tax advice, the paper will not resonate with them. Your content needs the X factor—context.
Some pieces of content will resonate more deeply with parts of your audience and miss with others. That is okay if you learn from it, refine accordingly and don’t measure yourself by one piece alone.
Anyone can do marketing,
Each person in North America is expected to see up to 10,000 ads a day. Is it any wonder then that within medium and large-sized organizations, people have their own beliefs on how marketing could be improved, even if it is not their core discipline? From the CFO to the COO, people in positions of power have their own opinions on how much needs to be spent on advertising, which messaging to use and so forth. But were the roles reversed, and a CMO told the CFO how to save on taxes, they would be told to stay in their lane. Interesting and annoying, huh?
As marketers, we need to do more to protect our territory—and for people to realize that they do not, by virtue of the fact that they see marketing, know better than marketers, people who studied this as a discipline. As I like to remind people, everyone knows how to brush their teeth, but that doesn’t make them dentists.
A Final Thought
Marketing, like all industries, has its fair share of cowboys—people willing to do whatever they can for the quick sale, even if it comes at the detriment of the business down the track, or the industry as a whole (black hat SEO as an example). What we need to do is be aware of the fallacies, poor practices and shortcuts and do our best to correct them so that, ultimately, the brands we represent thrive—not just today, but long into the future.
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Author: Hamish Anderson, Forbes Councils Member
