Marketing is ultimately all about communication. And it most certainly isn’t about you, the marketer.
I know this can be a hard lesson to learn. We’ve all seen Mad Men, and any marketer who pretends they’ve never fancied themselves as a Don or Peggy is almost certainly lying to you. We’d all like to be wowing clients with snappy slogans and TV campaigns, with ‘trebles all round’ when we pick up our Lion at Cannes. It’s just a shame the modern world doesn’t work like that.
And unfortunately, when we learn how to look, we see the consequences of not learning this lesson everywhere:
Marketing campaigns default to the ‘sexy’ channels of communication, rather than those that will actually deliver value for money. I think I’ve lost count of the number of times a government department feels that the appropriate way to address a very specific group of individuals is via an advertisement on national morning radio, for example.
Marketers fixate on the latest Saas tools, rather than the ones that work. We’re always looking out for the ‘new thing’, and almost never asking ourselves whether being able to do something means we should do something.
We ape consumer campaigns by leading with aspirational (and meaningless) slogans that mean nothing to most B2B buyers. To discover the prevalence of this disease, I recommend browsing software business websites and playing the “but what do you do?” game. If you can’t figure out the answer to that question within 30 seconds, drink. You won’t last long.
For all these reasons and more, many campaigns or marketing projects fail, marketers lose their jobs and this makes St Bernardino of Siena* cry.
Why do we do this?
Well, one reason is the ‘cargo cult’ marketing that I talked about some time ago on this blog. “If company x is doing this, and company x is very successful, then if I do the same thing I will be successful too” is the usual logic.
Obviously, that train of thought doesn’t stand much scrutiny, but you would be surprised how often it happens. And it tends to be re-inforced by the understandable desire we’ve been talking about to ‘do big things’, or be ‘the cleverest person in the room’, and all those other dubious and usually disastrous emotions marketers are susceptible to.
And as you have probably guessed, all that ego leads us astray. Ultimately we end up centring our own wants, and distracted from what we are actually trying to do: talk to people and persuade them to believe something.
Fortunately, there are lots of ways we can ensure this doesn’t happen. Let’s find out about them.
How to keep your ego in check
Most of what follows could probably be summarised as follows: “prioritise objectivity over subjectivity”. For what it’s worth, I don’t believe subjective decision-making is always a terrible idea. More on that some other time perhaps. But if you don’t have your eyes open, it usually turns out that way.
It’s not just that by definition a subjective evaluation is one person’s opinion. It’s more who that person is. Yourself. If we don’t train ourselves to follow processes that force us to think objectively about the world and test ourselves in reality, then we end up making decisions based on what we like, and worse again over-ruling those around us who advise caution.
Here, in no particular order, are some ways to do that:
Document your audience. When we are forced to write something down, we make public what we believe and open it up to interrogation by ourselves and others. Before any marketing campaign, we document who we believe the audience to be, and then validate that belief with others.
Define success (beforehand). On similar lines, when we are clear and honest about what we want to happen, we are forced to think clearly about how to make that happen. This also focuses the mind: instead of evaluating random ‘good ideas’ we are engaged in a process of finding the right way to make a specific metric move.
Listen. By which I mean, actually listen. Be alive to feedback, and force yourself to articulate your own thoughts in response to it (this ensures you don’t just ignore it). Some of the most catastrophic mistakes in history were caused by people who intentionally or unintentionally blocked out every voice urging caution. Less is usually at stake here, but the same principle applies.
Think tactically last of all. Which is perhaps just a fancy way of saying don’t be the guy with a hammer seeing nails everywhere. This issue can manifest in a variety of ways. When we are experts in something, we tend to see it as the solution to every problem. Similarly, if we have been seduced by the latest ’thing’ in marketing, and feel that using it would reflect well on ourselves… well, you can guess what happens. Starting with strategy and objectives can help avoid these pitfalls.
Test with audiences. This sounds obvious, but particularly where messaging, tone, and content are concerned, ask your audience what they think. I say it sounds obvious, but it is often ignored. I have seen very ‘clever’, large budget above-the-line campaigns waved through without anyone thinking to put the copy in front of the target audience. With predictable results.
Last, but by no means least, be honest with yourself.
Those who have never worked in marketing may wish to imagine an industry populated by reasonable, scientifically-minded individuals ‘led by the data’ at all times.Those of us who have, know just how inaccurate that picture really is. It’s just a fact that in more cases than we care to admit numbers get massaged - or just plain ignored - if they appear to be getting in the way of ‘a great idea that everybody loves’.
Don’t be that guy or girl. Leave your ego at the door.
*The patron saint of marketers. You knew that, right?
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